Great Depression/Timelines

1850-1918

11 US recessions [1] including the panic of 1893

1914-18

First World War

General suspension of the gold standard.

1918

Treaty of Versailles: war reparations [2].

1919-21

UK: Post-war recession [3].

1921-23

USA: post-war recession [4].

1923

Germany: Hyperinflation [5].

1925

UK: Britain rejoins the gold standard.

1926

UK: General strike.

1921 - 1929

USA: Strong economic growth: GDP increases by 42% (growth rates: 10.5% pa 1921-23; 3.4% pa 1923-29)

USA: Stock market boom: the DJIA index at the 1929 peak is six times its minimum level in 1921 [6].

1927

US Federal Reserve Bank cuts its discount rate cut from 4% to 3.5%

1928

US Federal Reserve Bank raises its discount rate to 5%

1929 February

UK: Bank of England raises the bank rate fron 4.5% to 5.5%

June

USA: Start of a downturn in economic activity

August

US Federal Reserve Bank raises discount rate to 6%

October

USA: The stock market crash of 1929.

24 Black Thursday DJIA falls by 13%

28 Black Monday DJIA falls by 12.8%

29 Black Tuesday DJIA falls by 11.7%

1930-33

USA: The "Great Contraction"

USA: Three waves of panic create a progressive collapse of the United States banking system, with the failure of nearly half of the banks and heavy. losses by the others.

1930

USA: Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act [7][8]

USA GNP drops 9.4% from the previous year. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7%. By the end of the year, 1,350 banks have closed.

1931

USA: banking crisis, with the failure of over 1800 banks.

Britain, Sweden and Japan leave the gold standard [9]

1932

USA: Reconstruction Finance Corporation [10] created

USA:Federal Home Loan Act [11]

USA: Unemployment is 25 percent.

USA: National income is 50 percent below that of 1929.

USA: Stock market is 75 percent below its 1929 high.

USA:10,000 banks have failed since 1929, (40 percent of the 1929 total).

1933

USA:Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president.

President declares a banking holiday and temporarily closes all U.S. banks using the Emergency Banking Act 1933[12].

USA: The National Recovery Administration and the Public Works Administration created by the National Recovery Act 1933 [13]

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [14] created

USA: Money supply is 40 percent lower than 1929.

USA: Approximately 4,000 commercial banks fail.

USA: 1,700 S&Ls fail

1934

USA: recovery begins: GNP rises 7.7 percent, and unemployment falls to 21.7 percent.

1935

USA: recovery continues: the GNP grows another 8.1 percent, and unemployment falls to 20.1 percent.

1936

1937

USA: Recession of 1937 [15]: industrial production down 40 percent; unemployment rises by 4 million; stock market drps by 48 percent.

1938

1939