The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a period in which a quarter of the working population in the United States, Germany, Britain, and France suffered from unemployment. It was a direct result of the Wall Street crash of 1929. This led to a widespread loss of faith in private capitalism and the absence of state intervention. This latter effect was especially strong because at this time the central banks had not acted as lenders of last resort as they did later in 2008 in order to avoid complete economic collapse. These factors led to the emergence of the social state in Europe and North America.