Great Depression Dbq

Words: 575
Pages: 3

The great depression has originated in the United States in the summer of 1929. All components of American society and economy were affected following the domino effect. The crash in the stock market, created an uncertainty about future investments and caused a decrease in the aggregate demand, and the consumer purchase power. This resulted a big fall of prices and real outputs eventually, some statistics have determined that the industrial production at that time fell by 47%, GDP declined by 30% and the price index decreased by 33% (Romer para.3). People started losing their jobs which resulted a high rate of unemployment “20%”. Poverty spread out and people were no longer able to afford buying products and services, as a result, most industries suffered especially mining, agriculture, construction and durable goods such as automobiles and appliances. Banks had a big share of this disaster, as depositors lost their confidence in the creditworthiness of banks, they rushed demanding to cash out their deposits. This caused the failure of banks and nearly 4000 banks were closed by 1932. …show more content…
This left people hopeless and unable to find alternatives to rely on for survival. As a result, people were faced with a strained poverty which forced more than 2.5 million to migrate towards the west coast areas. The remaining population were suffering on a daily basis, where getting bread was a challenge for most of them.(Romer p.3) At that time, hundreds of teens became itinerant, and women started working in order to support their families. It is also prominent that the president Herbert Hoover, created what was so-called “Hoovervilles”, shelters in which homeless families obtained sanctuary at that