Course Description: A new history of the Great Depression is emerging. One that acknowledges the role that government played in causing and prolonging it, and the constructive role that free enterprise could have played, if it were given the chance. In this video, UCLA economist Lee Ohanian explains how Herbert Hoover, widely misunderstood as a champion of the free market, actually turned what should have just been a recession into a depression due to his mistrust of the market.
Although Rothbard is not specifically mentioned in the video, Professor Ohanian does reference Murray Rothbard in his research published in academic journals. This “new” emerging theory of the Great Depression should be rightly labeled the Rothbardian theory. It has much to offer us today in terms of understanding the Housing Bubble, the financial crisis, and the failure of either “federal stimulus” or “quantitative easing.”
