ABSTRACT

This book provides a perspective by a prominent economist on the problems of debt, recession, and recovery in the 1930s as compared with the 1990s. The book begins with several chapters on the explosion of debt in the public and private sectors during the 1970s and 1980s, and its implications for economic stagnation and recession that seem to plague the economy. Resolution of the debt problem and reform of the banking and financial system are critically important because these problems dampen economic recovery and growth in the future. The second part of the book is a reprint of Albert Hart's classic 1938 study, Debts and Recovery 1929 to 1937, originally published by the 20th Century Fund. The extraordinary parallel between financial problems of the 1930s and the 1990s, solutions of the past, and proposed reforms for the future may provide a fascinating study for scholars and interested citizens alike.

part |2 pages

PART I: Debt, Crisis, and Recovery Revisited

chapter 1|14 pages

DEBTS AND FLUCTUATION

chapter 2|12 pages

THE END OF AN ERA: 1930S AND 1990S

chapter 3|16 pages

A FRAMEWORK FOR REFORM

part |8 pages

PART II: Debts and Recovery, 1929 to 1937

chapter |4 pages

Foreword

chapter |11 pages

Acknowledgments

chapter |4 pages

Tables

chapter |3 pages

Figures

chapter 1|16 pages

THE DEBT PROBLEM AND THE DEPRESSION

chapter 2|19 pages

CREDIT INSTITUTIONS IN THE DEPRESSION

chapter 3|36 pages

THE CRISIS IN COMMERCIAL BANKING

chapter 4|45 pages

OTHER CREDIT AGENCIES IN THE CRISIS

chapter 6|42 pages

THE DEBTS OF CORPORATIONS

chapter 7|27 pages

SHIFTS IN GOVERNMENT DEBTS

chapter |86 pages

Appendix to Part II

chapter |4 pages

Index to Part I

chapter |6 pages

Index to Part II

chapter |1 pages

About the Authors