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Article: Great Depression
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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GREAT DEPRESSION
GREAT DEPRESSION,
the longest, deepest, and most pervasive depression in American history, lasted from 1929 to 1939. Its effects were felt in virtually all corners of the world, and it is one of the great economic calamities in history.
In previous depressions, such as those of the 1870s and 1890s, real per capita gross domestic product (GDP)
—
the sum of all goods and services produced, weighted by market prices and adjusted for inflation
—
had returned to its original level within five years. In the Great Depression, real per capita GDP was still below its 1929 level a decade later.
Economic activity began to decline in the summer of 1929, and by 1933 real ...