A year ago, when most of the country was under stay-at-home orders and people were losing jobs at an unprecedented rate, we asked three people who study economic history to explain whether the recession on the horizon was going to look anything like the Great Depression.
With the vaccine rollout well underway, weekly unemployment claims at their lowest level since the pandemic began and consumer confidence rising, we’ve asked them about a different historical comparison: the 1920s.
The economy fundamentally changed in the 1920s
“The 1920s, in so many ways, is relevant to now in both how it’s similar and how it isn’t,” said Kathleen Day, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University and author of a book on the history of financial crises in the United States. Read more…..
Chart of the Day
Icarus TV
In economics, Gresham’s law is a monetary principle stating that “bad money drives out good”. For example, if there are two forms of commodity money in circulation, which are accepted by law as having similar face value, the more valuable commodity will gradually disappear from circulation. Today’s guest says, “This has been happening all throughout history.”
