The Authoritative Work on the Great Depression by Fed Chair Ben Bernanke

Business Wire, Oct 22, 2008

PRINCETON, N.J. -- "The financial crisis has made Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's book ESSAYS ON THE GREAT DEPRESSION a hot seller...Bernanke, a former Princeton University economist, is considered the pre-eminent living scholar of the Great Depression. He is practicing today what he preached in his book: Flood the system with money to avoid a depression."

-- USA Today

As the subprime mortgage mess continues to wreak havoc on world economies and people's pocketbooks, many are looking to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for guidance and leadership in this tumultuous time. Fortunately, our Fed chief is one of the pre-eminent scholars of the Great Depression and lessons can be found in Bernanke's authoritative book ESSAYS ON THE GREAT DEPRESSION (published in paperback in 2004, $29.95, 310 pages).

Because of the market turmoil, Bernanke's treatment of the Great Depression has been finding a new audience of book buyers as media, policymakers, businessmen, and average people--both in the U.S. and abroad--seek to understand our present economic situation.

In ESSAYS ON THE GREAT DEPRESSION, Bernanke has gathered together his essays on why the Great Depression was so devastating. This broad view shows us that while the Great Depression was an unparalleled disaster, some economies pulled up faster than others, and some made an opportunity out of it. By comparing and contrasting the economic strategies and statistics of the world's nations as they struggled to survive economically, the fundamental lessons of macroeconomics stand out in bold relief against a background of immense human suffering. The essays in this volume present a uniquely coherent view of the economic causes and worldwide propagation of the depression.

"Mr. Bernanke certainly knows the importance of well-functioning markets. In ESSAYS ON THE GREAT DEPRESSION he wrote persuasively that runs on the banks and extensive defaults on loans reduced the efficiency of the financial sector, prevented it from doing its normal job in allocating resources, and contributed to the Depression severity. The Depression-era problems he studied are mirrored by similar issues today, and they need urgent attention."

-- Robert J. Shiller, New York Times

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