Essays on the Great Depression

Ben S. Bernanke is a member of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. He is on leave from Princeton University, where he is the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Economics and Public Affairs. He is author of many publications and coauthor of the recent Princeton University Press book, "Inflation Targeting: Lessons from the International Experience".

Preface vii PART ONE: OVERVIEW 3 1. The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression: A Comparative Approach 5 PART TWO: MONEY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS 39 2. Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression 41 3. The Gold Standard, Deflation, and Financial Crisis in the Great Depression: An International Comparison - With Harold James 70 4. Deflation and Monetary Contraction in the Great Depressim An Analysis by Simple Ratios - With Ilian Mihov 108 PART THREE: LABOR MARKETS 161 5. The Cyclical Behavior of Industrial Labor Markets: A Comparison of the Prewar and Postwar Eras - With James L. Powell 163 6. Employment, Hours, and Earnings in the Depression: An Analysis of Eight Manufacturing Industries 206 7. Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression: Are There Lessons for Europe? - With Martin Parkinson 247 8. Procyclical Labor Productivity and Competing Theories of the Business Cycle: Some Evidence from Interwar U.S. Manufacturing Industries - With Martin Parkinson 255 9. Nominal Wage Stickiness and Aggregate Supply in the Great Depression - With Kevin Carey 276 Index 303