ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the geographic experience of the Depression, both internationally and internally, is poorly explained by existing theories. The ability to handle the differential national experience of the interwar period must be the final test of any attempt to explain the Great Depression. It is possible, of course, that different forces were behind the Depression in different countries, but this would be an incredible coincidence. Writers on interwar Britain have long recognized that structural transformation was an important component of interwar experience. Saint-Etienne, convinced that government policy in Britain was correct, attributed interwar unemployment to demographic and structural problems. The industries which led the boom in the United States, construction, services, transport, and the new consumer durables trades, were much less buoyant in Britain. The role of technology is obscured in Britain, for the 1930s saw the adoption of products which had earlier saturated Americans markets.
