Contrasting Views of the Great Depression with Robert P. Murphy
This Day In History: U.S. President Herbert Hoover proposed a $150 million (equivalent to $2,250,000,000 in 2018) public works program on this day in 1930 to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy. This flies in the face of the commonly accepted view that Herbert Hoover (a Republican) was a "do-nothing President." Hoover was a progressive who urged business leaders to keep wages up even while prices were falling...in other words, to give people a raise during a depression. As a result fewer people were hired. "Hoover’s policies prolonged the Great Depression. His agricultural policy was a disaster. Raising tariffs an average of 59% on more than 25,000 items hurt. Lots of tax increases crippled businesses. Hoover sought prosperity through central planning, as did his successor, FDR, who also knew nothing about how wealth was created." ~Tom Woods
"One of the most pernicious myths in the economic history of the twentieth century is the belief that what caused the Great Depression, or at least worsened it, is Herbert Hoover’s dogmatic commitment to a 'do nothing' laissez-faire policy in the aftermath of the stock market crash. This argument is part and parcel of the set of beliefs about the Great Depression that I have dubbed the 'high school history' version of that event. (It includes the claims that laissez faire caused it, Hoover’s inaction worsened it, the New Deal did wonders, and World War II got us all the way out.) This claim about Hoover’s dedication to laissez faire is, as I have suggested, utterly false." ~Steven Horwitz
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