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Booms and Depressions and Related Writings

Consulting Editor James Tobin

For Fisher, the years 1929–1933 were extraordinarily trying. He was totally unprepared for the onset of the Great Depression. The lesson of the theories he had worked out in the 1920s seemed to be that significant fluctuations in economic activity were preceded by changes in the price level. But that model could not explain what had happened in the American economy following the stock market crash in the autumn of 1929. For the preceding half decade or so, the general price level had been remarkably stable – a condition that appeared to have augured well for continued economic stability. Fisher – along with a substantial number of his professional colleagues – confronted a formidable intellectual challenge in meshing his theorizing with observable realities.

Volume Contents

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    Front Matter
  • Editorial Introduction with Selected Documents
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      Editorial Introduction By William J. Barber
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      Transcript of an Address Delivered at a Meeting of the District of Columbia Bankers Association, 23 October 1929 By Irving Fisher
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      “The Stock Market Panic in 1929”, March 1930 By Irving Fisher
  • Booms and Depressions By Irving Fisher
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      Prelims
    • Theoretical
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        I
        Introduction
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        II
        First Three of Nine Main Factors
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        III
        Remaining Six Main Factors
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        IV
        Starters
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        V
        “The” Business Cycle?
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        VI
        Other Theories
    • Factual
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        VII
        The Over-Indebtedness that Led to the World Depression
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        VIII
        The World Depression of 1929–32
    • Remedial
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        IX
        Palliatives vs. Remedies
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        X
        Remedies
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        XI
        The World Movement for Stable Money
    • Appendices
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        Appendix I: Approximate Typical Chronology of the Nine Factors
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        Appendix II: Sorts of Data Available on the Nine Factors
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        Appendix III: Statistics of Debts Leading to Depression of 1929–32
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        Appendix IV: Gold Base (And Gold Shortage) Depression of 1929–32
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        Appendix V: Depression of 1929–32
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        Appendix VI: An Outline of Complete Stabilization Program
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        Appendix VII: Other Plans for Reflation and Stabilization
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        Appendix VIII: Selected Bibliography
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      Index
  • Editorial Postscript with Selected Documents
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      Editorial Potscript By William J. Barber
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      The Debt-Deflation Theory of Great Depressions By Irving Fisher
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      Reflation and stabilization By Irving Fisher