TY - BOOK ID - 2674689 TI - The defining moment : the Great Depression and the American economy in the twentieth century AU - Bordo, Michael D. AU - Goldin, Claudia Dale. AU - White, Eugene Nelson PY - 1998 VL - *16 SN - 0226065898 9780226065892 9786611223144 128122314X 0226066916 9780226066912 PB - Chicago : University of Chicago Press, DB - UniCat KW - Depressions KW - United States KW - Economic conditions KW - Economic policy KW - -Depressions KW - -United States KW - -338.542 KW - Commercial crises KW - Crises, Commercial KW - Economic depressions KW - Business cycles KW - Recessions KW - Economic conditions. KW - Economic policy. KW - 338.542 KW - E-books KW - 1929 KW - Depressions - 1929 - United States KW - United States - Economic conditions KW - United States - Economic policy KW - great depression, economy, public policy, nonfiction, government, expansion, welfare, assistance, fiscal, monetary, new deal, legislation, labor organization, unions, business, history, deposit insurance, banks, banking, agriculture, federalism, regulation, unemployment compensation, social security, reciprocal trade agreements, smoot-hawley. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:2674689 AB - In contemporary American political discourse, issues related to the scope, authority, and the cost of the federal government are perennially at the center of discussion. Any historical analysis of this topic points directly to the Great Depression, the "moment" to which most historians and economists connect the origins of the fiscal, monetary, and social policies that have characterized American government in the second half of the twentieth century. In the most comprehensive collection of essays available on these topics, The Defining Moment poses the question directly: to what extent, if any, was the Depression a watershed period in the history of the American economy? This volume organizes twelve scholars' responses into four categories: fiscal and monetary policies, the economic expansion of government, the innovation and extension of social programs, and the changing international economy. The central focus across the chapters is the well-known alternations to national government during the 1930's. The Defining Moment attempts to evaluate the significance of the past half-century to the American economy, while not omitting reference to the 1930's. The essays consider whether New Deal-style legislation continues to operate today as originally envisioned, whether it altered government and the economy as substantially as did policies inaugurated during World War II, the 1950's, and the 1960's, and whether the legislation had important precedents before the Depression, specifically during World War I. Some chapters find that, surprisingly, in certain areas such as labor organization, the 1930's responses to the Depression contributed less to lasting change in the economy than a traditional view of the time would suggest. On the whole, however, these essays offer testimony to the Depression's legacy as a "defining moment." The large role of today's government and its methods of intervention-from the pursuit of a more active monetary policy to the maintenance and extension of a wide range of insurance for labor and business-derive from the crisis years of the 1930's. ER -