America's Great Depression

411 Pages·2002·2.31 MB·English

by  Murray Rothbard

America’s Great Depression
Fifth Edition

America’s Great Depression
Fifth Edition
Murray N. Rothbard
MISES
INSTITUTE
Copyright © 1963, 1972 by Murray N. Rothbard
Introduction to the Third Edition Copyright © 1975 by Murray N. Rothbard
Introduction to the Fourth Edition Copyright © 1983 by Murray N. Rothbard
Introduction to the Fifth Edition Copyright © 2000 by TheLudwig von Mises
Institute
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John W. Carpenter, Dr. John P. Cochran, John Cooke, Henry V. Curll,
James V. De Santo (DTL Inc.), Chris A. Doose, Mr. and Mrs. Ted C. Earle,
Jay Elliott, Eric Englund, Dr. Larry J. Eshelman, Lawrence N. Field,
Elton B. Fox (The Fox Foundation), Capt. and Mrs. Maino des Granges,
Christopher J. Hackett, John A. Halter, John R. Harper, Frank W. Heemstra,
Douglas M. Joy, Michael G. Keller, D.O., Robert N. Kennedy,
Richard J. Kossmann, M.D., David Kramer, Steven R. Krause,
Gary R. Letsinger, Diana Lewis, J. Edward Martin, Norbert McLuckie,
Samuel Mellos, Joseph Edward Paul Melville, Robert Mish,
Dr. Dorothy Donnelley Moller, Jerry W. Moore,
Keith E. Moore, D.M.D., Reed W. Mower, Brantley I. Newsom,
Professor and Mrs. Stanley E. Porter, James A. Reichert, Thomas S. Ross,
Conrad Schneiker, Roy Schroeder, William V. Stephens,
Charles Toops, II (Mo-Ark Guide Service),
Robert H. Walker (Walker Die Casting Company),
Mr. and Mrs. Victor Zadikov, Jeannette Zummo
Introduction v
vi America’s Great Depression
Acknowledgments
While the problem of 1929 has long been of interest to
myself as well as most Americans, my attention was
first specifically drawn to a study of the Great
Depression when Mr. Leonard E. Read, President of the
Foundation for Economic Education, asked me, some years ago, to
prepare a brief paper on the subject. I am very grateful to Mr. Read
for being, in this way, the sparkplug for the present book. Having
written the article, I allowed the subject to remain dormant for
several years, amid the press of other work. At that point, on the
warm encouragement of Mr. Richard C. Cornuelle, now of the
Foundation for Voluntary Welfare, I proceeded on the task of
expansion to the present work, an expansion so far-reaching as to
leave few traces of the original sketch. I owe a particular debt to
the Earhart Foundation, without whose aid this study could never
have been written.
My supreme debt is to Professor Ludwig von Mises, whose
monumental theory of business cycles I have used to explain the
causes of the otherwise mysterious 1929 depression. Of all
Professor Mises’s notable contributions to economic science, his
business cycle theory is certainly one of the most significant. It is
no exaggeration to say that any study of business cycles not based
upon his theoretical foundation is bound to be a fruitless under-
taking.
The responsibility for this work, of course, is entirely my own.
vi
Introduction vii