Zaman Meleset di Amerika Syarikat

Penyebab

Teori-teori terkini boleh dikelaskan kepada dua sudut pandangan. Pertama, mengikut ekonomi klasik ortodoks, monetaris, Keynesian, Ekonomi Austria dan teori ekonomi neoklasikal, yang menumpukan kepada kesan makroekonomi bekalan wang, termasuk pengeluaran besar-besaran dan penggunaan. Kedua, mengikut teori struktur, termasuk ekonomi institusi, yang menghala ke arah kurang penggunaan kepada pelaburan yang berlebihan (buih ekonomi) atau kepada salahlaku pegawai bank dan industrialis.
Terdapat banyak isu yang mencetuskan penurunan pertama pada tahun 1929, kelemahan struktur dan peristiwa penting yang menyebabkan kemelesetan utama, bagaimana penurunan ini merebak dari negara ke negara dan kenapa pemulihan ekonomi mengambil masa yang lama. 
Dari segi penurunan pertama pada tahun 1931, sejarawan menekankan faktor struktur dan kejatuhan pasaran saham sementara pakar ekonomi menyalahkan keputusan United Kingdom untuk kembali kepada Piawai Emas sebelum Perang Dunia Pertama. 
Pakar ekonomi berbalah sebanyak mana kejatuhan pasaran pada bulan Oktober 1929 menyumbang kepada kemelesetan. Menurut Milton Friedman, “pasaran saham pada tahun 1929 memainkan peranan dalam kemelesetan awal.” Ia jelas merubah sentiment mengenai jangkaan masa depan, mengubah pandangan daripada positif kepada negatif dengan kesan pengenduran kepada pelaburan dan keusahawanan, tetapi sesetengah orang merasakan kenaikan kadar faedah oleh pemerintah persekutuan mungkin juga menyebabkan kemerosotan ke arah Zaman Kemelesetan.

Kemerosotan 1937

By 1936, all the main economic indicators had regained the levels of the late 1920s, except for unemployment, which remained high. In 1937, the American economy unexpectedly fell, lasting through most of 1938. Production declined sharply, as did profits and employment. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938.
The Roosevelt Administration reacted by launching a rhetorical campaign against monopoly power, which was cast as the cause of the depression, and appointing Thurman Arnold to act; Arnold was not effective, and the attack ended once World War II began and corporate energies had to be directed to winning the war. By 1939, the effects of the 1937 recession had disappeared. Employment in private sector factories recovered to the level of the late 1920s by 1937, but did not grow much bigger until the war came and manufacturing employment leaped from 11 million in 1940 to 18 million in 1943. 
Another response to the 1937 deepening of the Great Depression had more tangible results. Ignoring the pleas of the Treasury Department, Roosevelt embarked on an antidote to the depression, reluctantly abandoning his efforts to balance the budget and launching a $5 billion spending program in the spring of 1938, in an effort to increase mass purchasing power. Business-oriented observers explained the recession and recovery in very different terms from the Keynesians. They argued the New Deal had been very hostile to business expansion in 1935–37, had encouraged massive strikes which had a negative impact on major industries such as automobiles, and had threatened massive anti-trust legal attacks on big corporations. All those threats diminished sharply after 1938. For example, the antitrust efforts fizzled out without major cases. The CIO and AFL unions started battling each other more than corporations, and tax policy became more favorable to long-term growth.
On the other hand, according to economist Robert Higgs, when looking only at the supply of consumer goods, significant GDP growth only resumed in 1946. (Higgs does not estimate the value to consumers of collective goods like victory in war) To Keynesians, the war economy showed just how large the fiscal stimulus required to end the downturn of the Depression was, and it led, at the time, to fears that as soon as America demobilized, it would return to Depression conditions and industrial output would fall to its pre-war levels. The incorrect prediction by Alvin Hansen and other Keynesians that a new depression would start after the war failed to take account of pent-up consumer demand as a result of the Depression and World War.

Selepasnya

Pemerintah memulakan perbelanjaan ketenteraannya pada tahun 1940 dengan mengerahkan berjuta-juta orang muda menjadi askar; 17 juta orang dikerahkan menjadi askar pada tahun 1945. But that was not enough to absorb all the unemployed. Sewaktu berlangsungnya Perang Dunia Kedua, pemerintah memberi upahan bersubsidi melalui kontrak berkos tambahan. Kontraktor pemerintah dibayar sepenuhnya memenuhi kos mereka termasuk suatu peratusan margin untung; di mana keuntungan sesebuah syarikat bertambah kerana upah yang dibayar kepada pekerja semakin banyak melalui pelangsaian kos oleh pemerintah dengan peratusan tertentu. Melalui kontrak-kontrak sebegini, kilang-kilang mengupah beratus-ratus ribu pekerja kasar sekitar tahun 1941-1943 atas tanggungan pemerintah. Program latihan tentera sendiri tertumpu kepada pembelajaran kemahiran teknikal yang diperlukan seperti pengendalian jentera, enjin, elektronik dan radio yang melatih para askar dan kelasi untuk ekonomi pasca-Perang Dunia Kedua.
Structural walls were lowered dramatically during the war, especially informal policies against hiring women, minorities, and workers over 45 or under 18. (See FEPC) Strikes (except in coal mining) were sharply reduced as unions pushed their members to work harder. Tens of thousands of new factories and shipyards were built, with new bus services and nursery care for children making them more accessible. Wages soared for workers, making it quite expensive to sit at home. Employers retooled so that unskilled new workers could handle jobs that previously required skills that were now in short supply. The combination of all these factors drove unemployment below 2% in 1943.

Hooverville

Satu kesan nyata pada kemelesetan adalah kewujudan petempatan yang diberi nama jolokan "Hooverville" - binaan kotak kadbod yang dihuni gelandangan. The term was coined by Charles Michelson, publicity chief of the Kebangsaan Demokra, named in honor of president Herbert Hoover whose policies were at the time blamed for the depression. Residents lived in shacks and begged for food or went to soup kitchens. Authorities did not officially recognize these Hoovervilles and occasionally removed the occupants for technically trespassing on private lands, but they were frequently tolerated out of necessity. Democrats popularized related terms such as "Hoover blanket" (old newspaper used as blanketing) and "Hoover flag" (an empty pocket turned inside out). "Hoover leather" was cardboard used to line a shoe with the sole worn through. A "Hoover wagon" was an automobile drawn by horse because the owner could not afford gasoline; in Canada, these were known as Bennett buggies, after the Prime Minister.