The Great Depression Affects The Americans - 1333 Words

The Great Depression was one of the biggest events in the 1920s since it had huge effects both socially and economically. Starting with the stock market crash, millions of investors were bankrupted and thousands of workers were unemployed. Over the next several years, not only did the consumer spending drop, the number of investment lowered as well. Until 1939, when the President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Relief and reform measures which finally help the economy to restart. Through two different disciplines, two different authors analyze how the Great Depression affect the Americans both economically and anthropologically. Christina D. Romer and Glen H. Elder, Jr, the two authors of two separate articles analyzes the†¦show more content†¦While many economists focus on the Great Depression s impact on unemployment and investment, Christina D. Romer s article The Great Crash And The Onset of The Great Depression focused solely on how citizen s uncertainty of t he future income level leads to changing consumer behaviors. She came up with two possible explanation that links the Great Depression and the drop in outputs. For example: It is possible that the crash depressed consumer spending simply by leading consumers to believe that the Great Depression was coming and hence that permanent income was lower. On the other hand they may also consider wealth effect of the decline in stock prices. It is possible that the crash depressed consumption simply by destroying a great deal of wealth. (Romer 600) As seen from Romer s quotes, her ideas are possible suggestions that are not biased. She did not simply present her point of view but supports her claim with statistics like charts, survey results and other scientific sources. Since she included her perspective, the article became focused and easy to understand. Rather than listing out the results, Romer includes background content in her article to make sure that it s easier for the reader to understand. It also shows that she is well-acquainted with the economic and social context of the Great Depression. She did not only use professional words but supports her hypothesis with analyzes that are easy to understand.