The Great Recession and the Great Depression

Peter Temin

NBER Working Paper No. 15645
Issued in January 2010
NBER Program(s):   DAE   EFG   ME

This paper discusses parallels between our current recession and the Great Depression for the intelligent general public. It stresses the role of economic models and ideas in public policy and argues that gold-standard mentality still holds sway today. The parallels are greatest in the generation of the crises, and they also illuminate the policy choices being made today. We have escaped a repeat of the Depression, but we appear to have lost the opportunity for significant financial reform.

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This paper was revised on December 5, 2011

Acknowledgments

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