什麼是大蕭條

西方世界所經歷的時間最長和最嚴重的經濟蕭條。開始於在美國紐約發生的1929年股市大崩盤，持續至1939年左右。到1932年末，股價跌到只有之前市值的20%左右；而到1933年，美國25,000家銀行中有11,000家宣告破產，導致需求和產出水平大大下降，造成高失業率（至1932年失業率達25～30%）。由於美國是戰後歐洲的主要債權人和資金融通者，一旦美國經濟陷入蕭條，歐洲的繁榮隨之崩潰，特別是德國和英國。各國均藉由提高關稅、對外貿進口規定配額來保護自己國內的貿易。到1932年，世界貿易總值減少一半以上。大蕭條在政治領域也產生了重大的後果。在美國，經濟危機導致羅斯福當選為總統，他的新政對美國的經濟結構造成若干重大變革。在德國，經濟災難直接導致了希特勒的崛起，於1933年奪取政權。在歐洲其他國家，大蕭條增強了極端主義勢力，降低了自由民主的威望。在大蕭條以前，各國政府依賴客觀的市場力量去獲致必要的經濟糾正；而在大蕭條以後，政府開始承擔主要的作用，以確保經濟穩定。

Great Depression

longest and most severe economic depression ever experienced by the Western world. It began in the U.S. with the New York Stock Market Crash of 1929 and lasted until about 1939. By late 1932 stock values had dropped to about 20% of their previous value, and by 1933 11,000 of the U.S.'s 25,000 banks had failed. This led to much-reduced levels of demand and hence of production, resulting in high unemployment (by 1932, 25-30%). Since the U.S. was the major creditor and financier of postwar Europe, the U.S. financial collapse led to collapses of other economies, especially those of Germany and Britain. Nations sought to protect domestic production by imposing tariffs and quotas, reducing the value of international trade by more than half by 1932. The Great Depression contributed to political upheaval. It led to the election of Franklin Roosevelt in the U.S. and major changes in the structure of the U.S. economy brought about by his New Deal. It directly contributed to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany in 1933 and to political extremism in other countries. Before the Great Depression, governments relied on impersonal market forces to achieve economic correction; afterward, government action came to assume a principal role in ensuring economic stability.