In at least every civilization within the span of written history, there has been some form of trading goods. This system of trade and natural supply and demand are the basis of what any system known as an economy is. And within these simple economic systems of early civilization; up to the forming of more complex systems of tax and rule, such as the roman civilization; all the way up to the modern global system that it has become; there has been some form of tragedy. These downs in the economy are inevitable, as they can start at the top and affect the society immediately. Or it may come from the very base of the economy where they slowly climb up into recognition. The same remains that with so many factors going into these systems, at some point failures are bound to occur. These failures in the societies core are known as economic depressions.
So what exactly is an economic depression? A depression can be defined as a catastrophic economic crash that can last anywhere from five years, to ten years, to completely shattering the society. This consists of falling Gross Domestic Product or simply GDP, which lead to high unemployment rates (Turner). There are many such examples, from all eras of history. But the one that is most relevant in our society is the Great Depression of America during the 1930’s. So naturally the next question would be; what started the great depression? Well there were many factors involved in a system as complex as Americas was back then, especially in comparison to other countries at that time. But the main problem seems to have been as America came to an end of the 20’s; they were in such an economic boom, that they were greatly overproducing goods in which there wasn’t necessarily a great demand for the product. The trickle down here was that once they realized they had to slow production in areas such as agriculture and factory work; millions had to be fired to maintain some form of profit for
Cited: Filip, Iulia . "How Did Americans Survive the Great Depression?: People’s Struggle for Survival During the Depression Era | Suite101.com." Iulia Filip | Suite101.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. <http://iulia-filip.suite101.com/how-did-americans-survive-the-great-depression-a162529>. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Great Depression (1920–1940).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. Turner, Rebecca. "What is Economic Depression?: The Causes and Effects of a Financial Downturn | Suite101.com." Rebecca Turner | Suite101.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. <http://rebecca-turner.suite101.com/what-is-economic-depression-a91399>.