Slaying the Myth
19 December 2006
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Jerry Albert says that "Franklin D. Roosevelt raised America from its Depression-era depths" (Letters, Dec. 19). That's the familiar myth. The reality - as economic historian Robert Higgs shows in his recent book Depression, War, and Cold War* - is that New Deal policies and the misguided fantasies that motivated them kept the economy mired in a deep depression for at least all of FDR's first two terms in office. And because statistics from a command-and-control war-time economy reveal nothing about how well an economy truly is functioning, Higgs makes a strong case that the Great Depression likely didn't end until 1946.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* (Oxford University Press, 2006)
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Jerry Albert says that "Franklin D. Roosevelt raised America from its Depression-era depths" (Letters, Dec. 19). That's the familiar myth. The reality - as economic historian Robert Higgs shows in his recent book Depression, War, and Cold War* - is that New Deal policies and the misguided fantasies that motivated them kept the economy mired in a deep depression for at least all of FDR's first two terms in office. And because statistics from a command-and-control war-time economy reveal nothing about how well an economy truly is functioning, Higgs makes a strong case that the Great Depression likely didn't end until 1946.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* (Oxford University Press, 2006)
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday August 28, 2007 at 11:04am