Arianna Thielman

After investigating and researching the beginning occurrences of the Great Depression in the paper that I discovered on Kent State University Library’s website titled, On the Way to the Great Depression: The Demand Regime of the American Economy (1900–1929) written by Ahmad Borazan. This paper breaks down the financials of the “Roaring Twenties” and shows just exactly how the economy was affected and how the economy could not keep up with the demand and the debt that followed. He makes the claim throughout the paper that the beginnings of the Great Depression and whether it stemmed from the demand regime exceeding the ability to cover wages of workers or if profit was more of an importance. Borazan says that it could have gone both ways but based on the beginning of and the extent of the financial crisis that the United States went through, came from a wage driven economy. There was a heavy demand for growth and investment into the workers. He makes a comment saying that our economy went from trying to be, “...wage led to debt led” (Borazan, 13). He claims that the Great Depression and the debt that came from it and led to it was the result of private debt. The beginning started with income inequality and the inability for the economy and other “channels” as Borazan calls the consumption increase that led to consumer debt. People were caught up in their private consumption ways and did not think that what they caught on a credit card or a loan would eventually have to be paid back to the bank/government. Overall, the beginning of the Great Depression ultimately stemmed from the rising income inequality and the increase of private debt levels and the fact that companies, banks, and the economy in general could not keep up with such demands and individual crises. 

Here is a great video that is a short crash course on the Great Depression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5YPWRjSVJE 

This is a famous picture that depicts the soup kitchens and breadlines that people would have to wait in to receive food rations: https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history 

Resources

Borazan, Ahmad. “Borazan Working Paper- On the Way to the Great Depression ...” Http://Eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.kent.edu/Eds/Pdfviewer/Pdfviewer?Vid=11&Sid=027ce78c-b0f5-4c4f-87a8-8f77b01537f1%40sessionmgr101, economics.utah.edu/research/publications/2015_02.pdf. 

History.com Editors. “Great Depression History.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history. 

readingthroughhistor. “History Brief: The Causes of the Great Depression.” YouTube, YouTube, 20 Feb. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5YPWRjSVJE.