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Rating: 
Summary: Benchmark Study of the Causes of the Great Depression
Review: This book is an admirable analysis of the causes of the Great Depression and why it would not end. Kindleberger explains that the reason was a lack of a stable international economic structure. Great Britain had abdicated that role and the United States was yet unwilling to assume that role. The system was unstable unless some country or major economic force acted upon it.It was not until economic activity was massively ramped up for World War II through deficit spending in the United States that the American economy pulled itself out of the depression. Congress was unwilling to take such dramatic steps before that, and Roosevelt was not completely sold on Keynseyian economics. (He was a conservative laissez-faire man, with basic regulations, before the disaster of the Great Depression.) The result is that Roosevelt ended the worsening of the depression and brought about a mild recovery, but the flawed economic system was not structured to bring about the needed stronger measures. In retrospect, mistakes were made. The book goes into detail in explaining many variables of the economic system. However, the times were what they were; a stable economic system, with active economic controls, did not exist. The book probably appeals most to teachers, researchers and students, but anyone interested in a thorough economic explanation of the Great Depression will like this book. It would help if the reader had a basic understanding of macroeconomics - perhaps an introductory college course. The book is not the only explanation of the Great Depression, nor pretends to be, but is a highly valid one and should be considered by anyone seriously interested in the subject. A classic for the subject.
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