# data[].attributes.headline
Causes and effects || Comparing the economic recession during the Great Depression (1929) with Australia’s COVID 19 lockdown (2020). 

# data[].attributes.subject
Causes and effects || Comparing the economic recession during the Great Depression (1929) with Australia’s COVID 19 lockdown (2020). 

# data[].attributes.body
Slide pack

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 1. What was the Great Depression? 

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 1. What was the Great Depression? 

# data[].attributes.body
Whole-of-class interactive activity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SOSE Assignment 2- Great Depression Unit - Google Jamboard

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The version of the browser you are using is no longer supported. Please upgrade to a supported browser. Dismiss

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 2. What is an economic recession? 

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 2. What is an economic recession? 

# data[].attributes.body
Group discussion

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 3. Is this quote from the Great Depression US) or from Australia's Covid-19 era (2020)

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 3. Is this quote from the Great Depression US) or from Australia's Covid-19 era (2020)

# data[].attributes.body
Sorting game

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Activity 3 - Great Depression or COVID-19?

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 4. Causes of the Great Depression | What was the Stock Market Crash of 1929?  

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 4. Causes of the Great Depression | What was the Stock Market Crash of 1929?  

# data[].attributes.body
(Resource)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stock Market Crash: 1929 & Black Tuesday | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 ushered in the Great Depression, as some 16 million shares were traded on Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929, wiping out many investors.

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 4. Causes of the Great Depression | In addition to the Stock Market Crash, what were the other primary factors that caused the Great Depression?  

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 4. Causes of the Great Depression | In addition to the Stock Market Crash, what were the other primary factors that caused the Great Depression?  

# data[].attributes.body
(Resource)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
National Archives, Washington, D.C. (12573155)

The Great Depression of the late 1920s and '30s remains the longest and most severe economic downturn in modern history. Lasting almost 10 years (from late 1929 until about 1939) and affecting nearly every country in the world, it was marked by steep declines in industrial production and in prices (deflation), mass unemployment, banking panics, and sharp increases in rates of poverty and homelessness. In the United States, where the effects of the depression were generally worst, between 1929 and 1933 industrial production fell nearly 47 percent, gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 30 percent, and unemployment reached more than 20 percent. By comparison, during the Great Recession of 2007-09, the second largest economic downturn in U.S. history, GDP declined by 4.3 percent, and unemployment reached slightly less than 10 percent.

There is no consensus among economists and historians regarding the exact causes of the Great Depression. However, many scholars agree that at least the following four factors played a role.

The stock market crash of 1929. During the 1920s the U.S. stock market underwent a historic expansion. As stock prices rose to unprecedented levels, investing in the stock market came to be seen as an easy way to make money, and even people of ordinary means used much of their disposable income or even mortgaged their homes to buy stock. By the end of the decade hundreds of millions of shares were being carried on margin, meaning that their purchase price was financed with loans to be repaid with profits generated from ever-increasing share prices. Once prices began their inevitable decline in October 1929, millions of overextended shareholders fell into a panic and rushed to liquidate their holdings, exacerbating the decline and engendering further panic. Between September and November, stock prices fell 33 percent. The result was a profound psychological shock and a loss of confidence in the economy among both consumers and businesses. Accordingly, consumer spending, especially on durable goods, and business investment were drastically curtailed, leading to reduced industrial output and job losses, which further reduced spending and investment.

Banking panics and monetary contraction. Between 1930 and 1932 the United States experienced four extended banking panics, during which large numbers of bank customers, fearful of their bank's solvency, simultaneously attempted to withdraw their deposits in cash. Ironically, the frequent effect of a banking panic is to bring about the very crisis that panicked customers aim to protect themselves against: even financially healthy banks can be ruined by a large panic. By 1933 one-fifth of the banks in existence in 1930 had failed, leading the new Franklin D. Roosevelt administration to declare a four-day " bank holiday" (later extended by three days), during which all of the country's banks remained closed until they could prove their solvency to government inspectors. The natural consequence of widespread bank failures was to decrease consumer spending and business investment, because there were fewer banks to lend money. There was also less money to lend, partly because people were hoarding it in the form of cash. According to some scholars, that problem was exacerbated by the Federal Reserve, which raised interest rates (further depressing lending) and deliberately reduced the money supply in the belief that doing so was necessary to maintain the gold standard (see below), by which the U.S. and many other countries had tied the value of their currencies to a fixed amount of gold. The reduced money supply in turn reduced prices, which further discouraged lending and investment (because people feared that future wages and profits would not be sufficient to cover loan payments).

The gold standard. Whatever its effects on the money supply in the United States, the gold standard unquestionably played a role in the spread of the Great Depression from the United States to other countries. As the United States experienced declining output and deflation, it tended to run a trade surplus with other countries because Americans were buying fewer imported goods, while American exports were relatively cheap. Such imbalances gave rise to significant foreign gold outflows to the United States, which in turn threatened to devalue the currencies of the countries whose gold reserves had been depleted. Accordingly, foreign central banks attempted to counteract the trade imbalance by raising their interest rates, which had the effect of reducing output and prices and increasing unemployment in their countries. The resulting international economic decline, especially in Europe, was nearly as bad as that in the United States.

Decreased international lending and tariffs. In the late 1920s, while the U.S. economy was still expanding, lending by U.S. banks to foreign countries fell, partly because of relatively high U.S. interest rates. The drop-off contributed to contractionary effects in some borrower countries, particularly Germany, Argentina, and Brazil, whose economies entered a downturn even before the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States. Meanwhile, American agricultural interests, suffering because of overproduction and increased competition from European and other agricultural producers, lobbied Congress for passage of new tariffs on agricultural imports. Congress eventually adopted broad legislation, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (1930), that imposed steep tariffs (averaging 20 percent) on a wide range of agricultural and industrial products. The legislation naturally provoked retaliatory measures by several other countries, the cumulative effect of which was declining output in several countries and a reduction in global trade.

Just as there is no general agreement about the causes of the Great Depression, there is no consensus about the sources of recovery, though, again, a few factors played an obvious role. In general, countries that abandoned the gold standard or devalued their currencies or otherwise increased their money supply recovered first (Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931, and the United States effectively devalued its currency in 1933). Fiscal expansion, in the form of New Deal jobs and social welfare programs and increased defense spending during the onset of World War II, presumably also played a role by increasing consumers' income and aggregate demand, but the importance of this factor is a matter of debate among scholars.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What brought about the worst economic downturn in modern history?

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 5. What were the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 economic recession and the Great Depression? 

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 5. What were the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 economic recession and the Great Depression? 

# data[].attributes.body
In table groups

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Economic impacts of COVID-19 and the Great Depression

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 5. Compare the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 economic recession and the Great Depression.

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 5. Compare the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 economic recession and the Great Depression.

# data[].attributes.body
In table groups

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 6. Responses to economic recession 

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 6. Responses to economic recession 

# data[].attributes.body
(Individual formative assessment)

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 6. Supporting resource: What did economic recovery look like in America during the 30s?

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 6. Supporting resource: What did economic recovery look like in America during the 30s?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When we think of economic disasters, it's usually the Great Depression that pops into mind first-sorry, 2008 financial crisis. The effects and aftermath of the Great Depression had a massive role in shaping the world as we know it, despite the fact that it began nearly a century ago. We all know when it started: Black Tuesday, the infamous the Wall Street crash of October 29, 1929. But despite its dramatic entrance, it would take more than one day for the world to lift itself out of one of the worst financial crises of all time. So, when did the Great Depression end?

Roosevelt and the New Deal

In November 1932, the American people elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt as President of the United States. During his campaign, he promised a "new deal for the American people." This was an oath which he actually began to enact when he entered office in March of 1933. By that time, much of the rest of the world had begun to recover from the Great Depression. However, the US was crawling out of the crisis at a much slower rate.

From 1933 to 1936, the new President spearheaded legislation to get America back on its feet. This included many different programs, public work projects, reforms, and regulations. These programs were meant to target and aid those who'd been hit hardest by the Great Depression: farmers and the unemployed.

The cornerstones of the New Deal were the three Rs: Relief for those who needed it, Recovery of the economy, and Reform to avoid another financial crisis. The government created many new programs and agencies in this time, some of which still exist today. For example, the Social Security act dates back to the New Deal. And, for a while, the New Deal worked-it looked like the US was ready to rise again as a financial power.

It's Not Over Yet

Things were looking good at the start of 1937. While the unemployment rate wasn't recovering as fast as it could have, production, profits, and wages were climbing back to pre-Black Tuesday levels. Sadly, this upward trend was temporary. A major setback came in the form of the 1937-1938 recession, which lasted nearly 13 months. Production dipped quickly and unemployment began to rise again.

Of course, Roosevelt had been able to say that the financial improvement seen before this second recession had been his responsibility. Now, with another downturn at hand, that proud achievement became a liability.

When Did the Recession End?

Roosevelt had to make a choice. He could balance the budget or he could plunge a huge amount of money into a program meant to increase mass purchasing power. Thus far into the New Deal, he'd tried to keep the budget balanced, but things were dire (and so was, one would imagine, his approval rating). In the early months of 1938, he put $5 billion into a spending program. It worked, in a sense. The economy began to recover, and the GDP turned upwards again. However, unemployment would remain a huge problem for Roosevelt and his administration.

When Did the Great Depression End?

A variety of factors ushered in the end of the Great Depression. Lifestyle adjustments made by women and families were definitely a contributing factor that helped close the gap in the final years of the crisis. Many women reacted by putting off having children; others reduced household spending and extended the life of material goods they already owned. Some families worked to become more self-reliant (growing their own food, for example). More women also went to work.

The final nail in the coffin of the Great Depression was the outbreak of World War II. The tensions in Europe that preceded the outbreak of the War led to rearmament policies between 1937 and 1939, which stimulated the European economy. Government spending on the War furthered the recovery. The last lingering effect of the Great Depression in the US, the high unemployment rate, finally recovered completely when they entered the War in 1941. So, while it took years and a combination of efforts, from the small-scale to larger, for the Great Depression to end, it could be said that its definitive end was in December 1941, when the US joined World War II.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When we think of economic disasters, it's usually the Great Depression that pops into mind first-sorry, 2008 financial crisis. The effects and aftermath of the Great Depression had a massive role in shaping the world as we know it, despite the fact that it began nearly a century ago.

# data[].attributes.headline
Activity 6. Supporting resource: What did economic recovery look like in Victoria during COVID-19 pandemic?

# data[].attributes.subject
Activity 6. Supporting resource: What did economic recovery look like in Victoria during COVID-19 pandemic?