The Banking Panics of the Great Depression. (book reviews)

Business History, July, 1997 by Wood, Geoffrey E.

Banking panics attract a great deal of attention from both economists and economic historians. They provide extreme observations which can suggest new theoretical developments and test the robustness of existing ideas, and they are often documented in detail by contemporaries. The crises of the period discussed in the short but densely packed volume have already been extensively studied. What does Elmus Wicker add? The answer is, a great deal. Indeed, if one were to strain to find fault with this fascinating book, the fault would be that the ratio of fact to interpretation of fact is so high that at times the reader has to work very hard to discover conclusions. But that is a minor criticism, and for every reader who concurs there will no doubt be another who welcomes...

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