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The Meaning of Money in the Great Depression

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  • Hugh Rockoff

Abstract

The quality of the money stock declined during the banking crises of the early 1930s. Bank deposits did not serve as a secure short- term store of purchasing power for use in an emergency as well as they had previously, and during the periods of restricted deposits in late 1932 and early 1933, bank deposits could not fulfill their basic function of being a medium of exchange. This paper presents some evidence to show that the decline in the quality of the money stock contributed to the severity of the contraction.

Suggested Citation

  • Hugh Rockoff, 1993. "The Meaning of Money in the Great Depression," NBER Historical Working Papers 0052, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberhi:0052
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Merrouche, Ouarda & Nier, Erlend, 2012. "Payment systems, inside money and financial intermediation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 359-382.
    3. Adam B. Ashcraft, 2005. "Are Banks Really Special? New Evidence from the FDIC-Induced Failure of Healthy Banks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1712-1730, December.
    4. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2022. "Financial Intermediation and the Economy," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2022-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    5. Carlos D. Ramirez & Philip A. Shively, 2012. "The Effect of Bank Failures on Economic Activity: Evidence from U.S. States in the Early 20th Century," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44, pages 433-455, March.
    6. Mark Carlson & Jonathan D. Rose, 2015. "Credit Availability and the Collapse of the Banking Sector in the 1930s," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(7), pages 1239-1271, October.
    7. Alexander Lubis & Constantinos Alexiou & Joseph G. Nellis, 2019. "Gauging the Impact of Payment System Innovations on Financial Intermediation: Novel Empirical Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 18(3), pages 290-338, December.
    8. Charles W. Calomiris & Joseph R. Mason, 2003. "Consequences of Bank Distress During the Great Depression," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 937-947, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N11 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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