ABSTRACT
On the eve of the Great Depression, the state remained relatively small, consuming some 3.67 percent of GDP. With the onset of the depression and the election of Franklin Roosevelt, the nation entered a prolonged period of state building. The federal government tripled in size in less than a decade. More importantly, new agencies and public policies were created to extend regulation to a number of sectors (most notably, agriculture and finance) and industrial relations. The Social Security Act of 1935 created the foundations for a new welfare state, and policymakers began to develop new fiscal policy tools to manage the vicissitudes of the business- cycle. In many ways, the boldest aspirations of the Progressive era were realized during the 1930s, as the New Deal established the foundations for a new regime that would endure, albeit with significant modifications, for almost half a century. 1
