The Crash and Its Aftermath: A History of Securities Markets in the United States, 1929-1933

(Hardback)

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The Crash and Its Aftermath is an excellent work of reference on the Great Contraction. It will be useful both to people with only a passing curiosity about the Crash and to those for whom the Great Depression is a major scholarly concern. Business History From now on any serious student of the Depression will be obliged to consult this work for a sense of securities price movements, investor attitudes, and relevant contemporary sources. Journal of Economic History This is the first book to focus on the broader structural changes which took place in the financial industry over the full period of decline from the Stock Market Crash in 1929 to the end of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's One Hundred Days in 1933. The basis for many of Wigmore's comments is an analysis of 142 leading companies whose stocks constituted approximately 77 percent of the market value of all New York Stock Exchange stocks. Wigmore also examines the various bond markets and relates the money market to the bond market, monetary policy, business conditions, and the problems of the banking system. Treating each year from 1929 to 1933 separately, Wigmore shows the interrelation between the stock, bond, and money markets and events in politics, the economy, international trade and finance, and monetary policy. The Statistical Appendix of 41 tables consolidates financial statistics which have hitherto been widely dispersed, permitting in-depth study.

Reviews

From now on any serious student of the Depression will be obliged to consult this work for a sense of securities price movements, investor attitudes, and relevant contemporary sources.-Journal of Economic History
In this large volume Wigmore analyzes the infamous 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent depression in the US from 1929 through 1933. The focus is on the role of banks and the turbulent behavior of the securities' markets, but the author includes interesting and relevant discussion of both US and foreign government attempts to contain this collapse of economic activity. The detailed study (year by year, sector by sector, and market by market) supports one clear and convincing thesis: The "Great Depression" was not caused by faulty monetary policy, but was the result of fundamental imbalances and speculation on real goods and services as well as financial markets. Contributing to the debacle were attempts to set unrealistic exchange rates and allowing the disequilibrium to grow between international and domestic markets. Political goals and policies incompatible with reality were situations that no monetary policy could remedy; security markets simply reflected that state of affairs...a valuable source of data and analysis.-CHOICE
The Crash and Its Aftermath is an excellent work of reference on the Great Contraction. It will be useful both to people with only a passing curiosity about the Crash and to those for whom the Great Depression is a major scholarly concern.-Business History
"From now on any serious student of the Depression will be obliged to consult this work for a sense of securities price movements, investor attitudes, and relevant contemporary sources."-Journal of Economic History
"The Crash and Its Aftermath is an excellent work of reference on the Great Contraction. It will be useful both to people with only a passing curiosity about the Crash and to those for whom the Great Depression is a major scholarly concern."-Business History
"In this large volume Wigmore analyzes the infamous 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent depression in the US from 1929 through 1933. The focus is on the role of banks and the turbulent behavior of the securities' markets, but the author includes interesting and relevant discussion of both US and foreign government attempts to contain this collapse of economic activity. The detailed study (year by year, sector by sector, and market by market) supports one clear and convincing thesis: The "Great Depression" was not caused by faulty monetary policy, but was the result of fundamental imbalances and speculation on real goods and services as well as financial markets. Contributing to the debacle were attempts to set unrealistic exchange rates and allowing the disequilibrium to grow between international and domestic markets. Political goals and policies incompatible with reality were situations that no monetary policy could remedy; security markets simply reflected that state of affairs...a valuable source of data and analysis."-CHOICE

Author Bio

gmore /f Barrie /i A.