The Great Depression is the " defining moment" to which most historians, economists, and political scientists connect the origins of the economic and social policies that have characterized American government in the second half of the twentieth century. In the most comprehensive collection of essays available on these topics, The Defining Moment evaluates the extent to which the Great Depression was a watershed period in the history of the American economy. This volume concludes that a large role of today's government and its methods of intervention derive from the crisis years of the 1930s. Sixty years later, the basic imprint of the defining moment is still visible.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Time Line The Defining Moment Hypothesis: The Editors' Introduction Michael D. Bordo, Claudia Goldin, Eugene N. White. I: The Birth of Activist Macroeconomic Policy 1: Was the Great Depression a Watershed for American Monetary Policy? Charles W. Calomiris, David C. Wheelock. 2: Fiscal Policy in the Shadow of the Great Depression J. Bradford De Long 3: The Legacy of Deposit Insurance: The Growth, Spread, and Cost of Insuring Financial Intermediaries Eugene N. White II: Expanding Government 4: By Way of Analogy: The Expansion of the Federal Government in the 1930s Hugh Rockoff 5: The Impact of the New Deal on American Federalism John Joseph Wallis, Wallace E. Oates. 6: The Great Depression and the Regulating State: Federal Government Regulation of Agriculture, 1884-1970 Gary D. Libecap III: Insuring Households and Workers 7: A Distinctive System: Origins and Impact of U.S. Unemployment Compensation Katherine Baicker, Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz. 8: Spurts in Union Growth: Defining Moments and Social Processes Richard B. Freeman 9: The Genesis and Evolution of Social Security Jeffrey A. Miron, David N. Weil. IV: International Perspectives 10: From Smoot-Hawley to Reciprocal Trade Agreements: Changing the Course of U.S. Trade Policy in the 1930s Douglas A. Irwin 11: The Great Depression as a Watershed: International Capital Mobility over the Long Run Maurice Obstfeld, Alan M. Taylor. 12: Implications of the Great Depression for the Development of the International Monetary System Michael D. Bordo, Barry Eichengreen. Contributors Name Index Subject Index