America's Great Depression

By: Murray N. Rothbard

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Applied Austrian economics doesn't get better than this. Murray N. Rothbard's America's Great Depression is a staple of modern economic literature and crucial for understanding a pivotal event in American and world history.

The Great Depression was not a crisis for capitalism but merely an example of the downturn part of the business cycle, which was generated by government intervention in the economy. Had this book appeared in the 1940s, it might have spared the world much grief. Even so, its appearance in 1963 meant that free-market advocates had their first full-scale treatment of this crucial subject. The damage to the intellectual world inflicted by Keynesian- and socialist-style treatments would be limited from that day forward.

©1978 Murray N. Rothbard (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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Wonderful analysis of the Great Depression by one of the most brilliant economic and social thinkers in history.

A great look into what happened to our economy, from a purely empirical standpoint

This book was exactly what I was looking for. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I remember studying US and World History in High School. I can still listen to my teachers talk about the different eras, such as WW1, WW2, the Great Depression…the 60s, the 70s, and the 80s. I can’t however recall ever going in depth into the economic, political aspect of the Great Depression.

I think this book gives you a great view of what happened, how it happened and why. Although there is a marked tendency to condemn the actions of the governmental administration, I believe it was justified. The story has empirical data that substantiate most of the events. Thats what I liked most about it.

I had been looking into finding a book that could open my eyes to what our economy and government was like before the depression, how it all worked. This book delivered on that. If you are a in the market for a factual account of one of our most important economic events in modern history, look no further.

I would recommend to keep google handy, since there are a lot of macro/microeconomic terminology used, and if you have not touched up on those subjects recently, you might have to between chapters.

Great read.

Summary from the end of the book:
"Economic theory demonstrates that only governmental inflation can generate a boom and bust cycle, and that the depression will be prolonged and aggravated by inflationist and other interventionary measures. In contrast to the myth of laissez-faire, we have shown in this book how government intervention generated the unsound boom of the 1920s, and how Hoover's new departure aggravated the great depression by massive measures of interference. The guilt for the great depression must, at long last, be lifted from the shoulders of the free market economy and placed where it properly belongs: at the doors of politicians, bureaucrats, and the mass of 'enlightened' economists, and in any depression, past or future, the story will be the same."

Great read. Chapter 4 was a little boring because it is a bunch of tables and statistical data, but other than that, this is a solid book explaining the Misesian Austrian Business Cycle theory, banking policy (both as it should be and as it is, which is a massive difference, determining whether the whole economic system could collapse or not due to a bank run-- 100% reserves on immediately withdrawable deposits = healthy capitalism, fractional reserves on immediately withdrawable deposits = unjust and unstable economic structure), and how Hoover's government thwarted economic growth using every anti-laissez-faire tool he could fathom.

What an informative book!

I learned so much from this book. Not only about how we end up in a depression, but all the things that happen before reaching that point. What needs to happen before a comeback. So informative in so many ways. This book is so beneficial in so many was. Worth reading, but to have it read to me I think was more beneficial. I will be listening to this again.

A Very Intense Economic And Political History

I am thoroughly enthralled by all academic work by Murray Rothbard. This is an intense economic analysis of the American economy in the 1920s and 1930s. While the audiobook is excellent, I had also purchased the Kindle and I am so glad that I read simultaneously. This audiobook was far too complicated and sophisticated for me to follow without reading along. This put me in mind of an upper level economic textbook. This is NOT an easy easy read with a flowing narrative about American social history. It is EXCELLENT... Thank You...

Not a great narration

Great book, dull narration. Seemed like he was in a big rush. Book written with wit and sarcasm, read flat.

better read than heard

Rich content and convincing arguments. Completely shatters the myths of Hoover's adherence to free market principles, as the cause of America's Great Depression, and Roosevelt's messianic New Deal, as the solution. Laborious to listen to statistics!

Outstanding historical analysis

Excellent book, but not for someone looking for a biographical history filled with famous personalities or a social history looking back at everyday life during a time of 25% unemployment. This is an economic history. It is recommended for anyone who would like a detailed anaylisis of how federal monetary policy errors can cause false booms by expanding the credit money supply, leading eventually to inevitable recessionary or depressionary corrections. It also explores how Keynesian fiscal policy tends to exacerbate and extend these periods of correction. Interesting, if for no other reason than this cycle of inflationary boom and recession/depression is still with us, and the same disproven tactics are still used as treatments. Anyone interested in the history of banking, finance or economics will probably find this a good read.

required reading- hard to capture over audio

Murray Rothbard is one of the Austrian Economists who Rep. Ron Paul puts on his reading list. This book is very technical and requires a lot of concentration to truly understand the causes of the depression and what prolonged the depression.

This book gives an excellent account of causes of the great depression in the 20s. It uncovers banker's corruption, moral suasion, and secrets of Cal and Harding's presidency. There are unfortunately many similarities between the greenspan/bernanke fed and the fed of the 20's.

This book should be required reading for every person elected to our congress.

Maybe a little heavy on the Austrian I Told You So

This is the first Rothbard book I have read, by way of disclosure, but I have spent a lot of time in the last year reading about the rise of modern banking, as well as classical economics, and I read Mises' Socialism in the last year, as well. At a basic level, this book does a nice job of explaining the role of governmental intervention in boom/bust cycles and applying Mises' theory to the Great Depression. It does not spend a lot of time explaining late 19th century banking or early 20th century banking, so it does assume the reader knows some things about how runs occur, what fractional reserve lending is, how it worked during the late era of the gold standard, etc. Probably the greatest current relevance of this book is that it applies Mises to American boom / bust cycles and it emphasizes the role of government actions that encouraged the boom. The problem is nobody wants to restrain booms (through action or inaction), and so discussion in the public discourse of this kind of Austrian approach always seems to only occur during the bust cycle and we never really learn our lesson. Rothbard raises excellent points about forms of intervention that are counterproductive or yield paradoxical results, although even by Austrian standards this book can feel snide at times (Mises, himself, is overbearing, especially compared to the much more thoughtful approach of Hayek, although in the places where he's right, he's just plain right, and what can one do...). I do feel a little as if this particular book does not really reveal as much of Rothbard's own thinking (although it is certainly present when comparing what is said here to Mises himself), but it is a nice analysis, albeit it should probably be read in the context of other perspectives on the matter.

The narration style is dry, but production quality is good, the narrator is easily understood, and overall this is a well produced rendition that is easy to listen to while commuting.