Great Depression Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Origins === Because the Great Depression began in the United States and then spread around the world, the origins of the Great Depression are examined in the context of the United States economy. In the aftermath of [[World War I]], the [[Roaring Twenties]] had brought considerable wealth to the United States and Western Europe.<ref name="Soule-1947">George H. Soule, ''Prosperity Decade: From War to Depression: 1917–1929'' (1947)</ref> The year 1929 dawned with considerable economic progress in the American economy. A small stock crash occurred on 25 March 1929, but the crash was stabilized. Despite signs of economic trouble, the market continued to improve through September. Stock prices began to slump in September, and were volatile at the end of September.<ref name="pbsstock2">{{cite web |title=Timeline: A selected Wall Street chronology |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/crash/timeline/timeline2.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923040829/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/crash/timeline/timeline2.html |archive-date=September 23, 2008 |access-date=September 30, 2008 |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]}}</ref> A large sell-off of stocks began in mid-October. Finally, on 24 October, [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|Black Thursday]], the American stock market crashed 11% at the opening bell. Actions to stabilize the market failed, and on 28 October, Black Monday, the market crashed another 12%. The panic peaked the next day on Black Tuesday, when the market saw another 11% drop.<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |last1=Post |first1=Special to Financial |date=October 24, 2011 |title=The Great Crash of 1929, some key dates |language=en-CA |website=Financial Post |url=https://financialpost.com/personal-finance/the-great-crash-of-1929-some-key-dates |access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite web |author=<!--ET Bureau--> |date=October 22, 2017 |title=Market crash of 1929: Some facts of the economic downturn |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/miscellaneous/market-crash-of-1929-some-facts-of-the-economic-downturn/articleshow/61166918.cms |access-date=February 16, 2019 |work=Economic Times |publisher=Times Inernet}}</ref> Thousands of investors were ruined, and billions of dollars had been lost; many stocks could not be sold at any price.<ref name=":4" /> The market recovered 12% on Wednesday, but the damage had been done. Though the market recovered from 14 November until 17 April 1930, the market entered a prolonged slump. From 17 April 1930 until 8 July 1932, the market lost 89% of its value.<ref>According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Data website, based on a monthly timeseries 1929 September – 1932 June, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 87.1% while the Cowles Commission and S&P's all stock index lost 85.0%: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=qj2m , https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=qj2l.</ref>[[File:Bank of the United States failure NYWTS.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Crowds outside the [[Bank of United States]] in New York after its failure in 1931]]Despite the crash, the worst of the crisis did not reverberate around the world until after 1929. The crisis hit panic levels again in December 1930, with a [[bank run]] on the [[Bank of United States]] (privately run, no relation to the government). Unable to pay out to all of its creditors, the bank failed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gordon |first=John Steele |date=November–December 2018 |title=The Bank of United States |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2160290916 |journal=ABA Banking Journal |volume=110 |issue=6 |pages=58 |id={{ProQuest|2160290916}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Calomiris |first=Charles W. |date=November 2007 |title=Bank Failures in Theory and History: The Great Depression and Other "Contagious" Events |url=https://www.nber.org/papers/w13597 |journal=National Bureau of Economic Research|series=Working Paper Series |doi=10.3386/w13597 |s2cid=154123748 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Among the 608 American banks that closed in November and December 1930, the Bank of United States accounted for a third of the total $550 million deposits lost and, with its closure, bank failures reached a critical mass.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ferguson |first=Niall |title=The Ascent of Money |date=October 2009 |pages=163 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-986-173-584-9}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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