Stephen Davies of the IEA has an interesting post on whether current policy-makers are fixated by the Great Depression of the 1930s, whilst they really should be considering the Long Depression of 1873-1896. According to Davies, if they did consider the Long Depression, they would realise that "a fiscal stimulus would be ineffective and wasteful, since the underlying problem is one of a long-term economic realignment rather than a simple decline in demand".
The Panic of 1873 |