Abstract
Are the courses of fluctuations in economic activity and prices entirely monetary or entirely nonmonetary? One has reason to expect that the answer to that question has been so well understood for so long that it does not require a paper, much less a book or a conference to report the answer. The earliest attempts at systematic thinking about fluctuations recognized wars, crop failures, plagues, weather, and money—real and monetary shocks—as causes of fluctuations. Evidence supported this explanation. Although there was no single accepted formal theory of business-cycle dynamics, few economists have argued that all fluctuations have a unique cause (Haberler 1958).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Arcelus, F., and Meltzer, A. 1973. “The Markets for Housing and Housing Services.” Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 5: 78–98.
Barber, C. 1978. “On the Origins of the Great Depression.” Southern Economic Journal 44: 432–56.
Brunner, K. 1976. “A Fisherian Framework for the Analysis of International Monetary Problems.” In Inflation in the World Economy, ed. M. Parkin and G. Zis. Manchester: University of Manchester Press.
Duesenberry, J. 1958. Business Cycles and Economic Growth. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Friedman, M., and Meiselman, D. 1963. “The Relative Stability of Monetary Velocity and the Investment Multiplier in the United States, 1897–1958.” In Stabilization Policies, Commission on Money and Credit. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, for the Commission on Money and Credit.
Friedman, M., and Schwartz, A. J. 1963. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, for the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Gordon, R. J., and Wilcox, J. A. 1981. “Monetarist Interpretations of the Great Depression: An Evaluation and Critique.” In this volume.
Haberler, G. 1958. Prosperity and Depression. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Hansen, A. H. 1951. Business Cycles and National Income. New York: W. W. Norton.
Jonung, L. 1981. “The Depression in Sweden and the United States: A Comparison of Causes and Policies.” In this volume.
Mayer, T., ed. 1978. The Structure of Monetarism. New York: W. W. Norton.
Meltzer, A. H. 1976. “Monetary and Other Explanations of the Start of the Great Depression.” Journal of Monetary Economics 2: 455–71.
Meltzer, A. H. 1977. “Anticipated Inflation and Unanticipated Price Change.” Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 9: 182–205.
Modigliani, F., and Papademos, L. 1975. “Targets for Monetary Policy in the Coming Year.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 1: 141–63.
Schwert, W. 1979. “Tests of Causality: The Message in the Innovations.” Journal of Monetary Economics 10 (supp.).
Stein, J. 1976. “A Keynesian Can Be a Monetarist.” In Monetarism, ed. J. L. Stein. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Temin, P. 1976. Did Monetary Forces Cause the Great Depression? New York: W. W. Norton.
Zellner, A. 1979. “Causality and Econometrics.” Journal of Monetary Economics 10 (supp.).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1981 University of Rochester Center for Research in Government Policy and Business
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meltzer, A.H. (1981). Comments on “Monetarist Interpretations of the Great Depression”. In: Brunner, K. (eds) The Great Depression Revisited. Rochester Studies in Economics and Policy Issues, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8135-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8135-5_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-009-8137-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-8135-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive