Economy
The March 1933 Bank Holiday Was a Test of Public Confidence
A temporary closure of the banking system sounds like a measure that would deepen public fear. In March…
Category: Economy
The macro picture: inflation, growth, jobs, interest rates and central bank decisions.
Economy
How Bank Failures in 1930 Turned Local Fear Into a National Economic Problem
The first major banking panic of the Depression did not begin as a single nationwide shutdown. Failures clustered,…
Economy
Britain Left Gold in 1931. Why Did That Matter to American Banks?
A British monetary decision in September 1931 intensified pressure on the American banking system thousands of miles away.…
Business
A January 1930 Business Report Shows How Economic Data Arrived Too Late
What could an analyst know in January 1930, just months after Wall Street's October collapse? The Commerce Department's…
Economy
Before the 1929 Crash: What New York Fed Reports Revealed About Market Credit
Two Federal Reserve reports from early 1929 show why a spike in call-money rates and a change in…
Economy
Why the Fed’s 1929 Discount-Rate Debate Was More Complicated Than a Stock-Market Warning
In the popular retelling of 1929, rising stock prices simply called for higher interest rates. The contemporary policy…