The Great Depression and Modern Capitalism

Tokutaro Shibata
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Tokutaro Shibata: Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.

No 97-F-5, CIRJE F-Series from CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo

Abstract: The most crucial factor of the Great Depression was the institutional instability and fragility of the American financial system in the 1920s. Secondly, the instability of the reconstructed international gold standard was also a crucial factor of the Great Depression. Thirdly, the inelasticity of oligopolistic prices was the factor that accelerated the Great Depression. Fourthly, the unequal distribution of income was not a direct cause of the Great Depression but a fundamental background of the Great Depression. While the economic structure had changed, adherence to the old conventions and institutions was stubborn. The contradiction between the new economic structure and the old conventions was a main cause of the Great Depression.

Pages: 56 pages
Date: 1997-01
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