George Selgin on Contextualizing the Great Depression and its Implications on Monetary Policy Today

George Selgin on Contextualizing the Great Depression and its Implications on Monetary Policy Today

George Selgin is a senior fellow and director emeritus at the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute, as well as the author of the new book titled False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933-1947. George returns to the show to discuss the complicated economic history of the Great Depression, how that history has led us to the macro-events of 2008, 2010, and 2020, how we can apply lessons from the Great Depression to macroeconomic policy to the current moment, and much more.

Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links.

Recorded on May 13th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:25 - Welcoming George Selgin and False Dawn

00:03:25 - Why Another Book on the Great Depression?

00:06:37 - The New Deal’s Role in Recovery from the Great Depression

00:08:50 - Myths About the New Deal Overview of the Great Depression

00:12:30 - Measuring Unemployment

00:16:42 - The Gold Standard and the Great Depression

00:27:05 - Helpful: Suspension of the Gold Standard and the Bank Holiday

00:35:47 - Unhelpful: Reconstruction Finance Corporation

00:38:02 - Helpful: Creation of the Home Owners Loan Corporation

00:42:31 - Unhelpful: The National Recovery Administration

00:48:42 - Unhelpful: Fiscal and Monetary Policy and Ignoring Keynes

00:57:17 - Lessons for Today: Uncertainty

01:00:56 - The Lesson of Level Targeting

01:06:42 - Breaching Contracts

01:11:40 - Outro

Jaksot(520)

133 – Adam Ozimek on Population Growth,  Declining Business Dynamism and Fed Policy

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Adam Ozimek is a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics where he covers U.S. labor markets and demographics while actively blogging and tweeting about a wide range economic issues. He joins the show today to discuss mistakes in Fed policy and demographics. David and Adam also discuss the role demand played in the Great Recession, the link between population growth and inflation, and why the economy is experiencing weak productivity growth.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/11192018/adam-ozimek-inflation-migration-and-productivity   Adam’s Twitter: @ModeledBehavior Adam’s blog: https://www.economy.com/dismal/analysis/datapoints Adam’s website: https://www.adamozimek.com   Related Links:   If you would like access to *The Fed’s Mistake*, you can email Adam at Adam.Ozimek@moodys.com to request the paper.   *Population Growth and Inflation* by Adam Ozimek https://www.economy.com/getlocal?q=a7c139c0-2b8c-4abf-9b65-bd8b11392939&app=eccafile   *Declining Business Dynamism in the United States: A Look at States and Metros* by Ian Hathaway and Robert Litan https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/declining_business_dynamism_hathaway_litan.pdf   *The role of Entrepreneurship in US Job Creation and Economic Dynamism* by Ryan Decker et. al http://econweb.umd.edu/~haltiwan/JEP_DHJM.pdf   *The Migration Accelerator: Labor Mobility, Housing, and Aggregate Demand* by Greg Howard http://economics.mit.edu/files/12236   *Aging and the Productivity Puzzle* by Mark Zandi, Adam Ozimek, and Dante DeAntonio https://www.economy.com/dismal/analysis/commentary/300374/Aging-and-the-Productivity-Puzzle/   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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132 – Scott Sumner on the Lessons Learned for Monetary Policy, Ten Years Later after the Crisis

132 – Scott Sumner on the Lessons Learned for Monetary Policy, Ten Years Later after the Crisis

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131 – Mike Derby on Recent Economic Trends, Normalizing Monetary Policy and More

131 – Mike Derby on Recent Economic Trends, Normalizing Monetary Policy and More

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130 – Don Boudreaux on Free Trade, Protectionism, and the China Shock

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129 – Nick Bunker on the Economic Recovery, Unemployment Measurement, and the U.S. Labor Market

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22 Loka 20181h

128 – Robert Kaplan on the FOMC, the Dallas Fed, and Lessons from the Great Recession

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126 – Will Luther on Cash, “Supernotes,” and Cryptocurrencies

126 – Will Luther on Cash, “Supernotes,” and Cryptocurrencies

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