In the first essay of this thesis I test long-run monetary neutrality (LRMN) using the longhorizon approach of Fisher and Seater [18]. Using United States' data on M 2 and Net National Product they reject LRMN for the sample 1869-1975. However, I show that this result is not robust to the use of the monetary base instead of M2. Nor is it robust to the use of United Kingdom data instead of United States data. These results are consistent with the interpretation that Fisher and Seater's result is a consequence of the financial crisis of the 1930s causing inside money and output to move together. Using a Monte Carlo study I show that Fisher and Seater's rejection of LRMN can also be accounted for by size distortion in their test statistic. This study also shows that at longer horizons, power is very low. In the second essay I consider the financial crisis of the 1930s in the United States as change in regime. Using a bivariate version of Hamilton's [24] Markov switching model I estimate the probability that the underlying regime was one of financial crisis at each point in time. I argue that there was a shift to the financial crisis regime following the first banking crisis of 1930. The crucial reform in ending the financial crisis appears to have been the introduction of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in January 1934.1 also find that the time series of probabilities over the state of the financial sector contain marginal explanatory power for output fluctuations in the inter-war period. A problem when testing the null hypothesis of a linear model against the alternative of the Markov switching model is the presence of nuisance parameters. Consequently, the likelihood ratio test statistic does not possess the standard chi-squared distribution. In my third essay I perform a Monte Carlo experiment to explore the small sample properties of the pseudo likelihood ratio test statistic under the non-standard conditions. I find no evidence of size distortion. However, I do find that size adjusted power is very poor in small samples.

In the first essay of this thesis I test long-run monetary neutrality (LRMN) using the longhorizon approach of Fisher and Seater [18]. Using United States' data on M 2 and Net National Product they reject LRMN for the sample 1869-1975. However, I show that this result is not robust to the use of the monetary base instead of M2. Nor is it robust to the use of United Kingdom data instead of United States data. These results are consistent with the interpretation that Fisher and Seater's result is a consequence of the financial crisis of the 1930s causing inside money and output to move together. Using a Monte Carlo study I show that Fisher and Seater's rejection of LRMN can also be accounted for by size distortion in their test statistic. This study also shows that at longer horizons, power is very low. In the second essay I consider the financial crisis of the 1930s in the United States as change in regime. Using a bivariate version of Hamilton's [24] Markov switching model I estimate the probability that the underlying regime was one of financial crisis at each point in time. I argue that there was a shift to the financial crisis regime following the first banking crisis of 1930. The crucial reform in ending the financial crisis appears to have been the introduction of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in January 1934.1 also find that the time series of probabilities over the state of the financial sector contain marginal explanatory power for output fluctuations in the inter-war period. A problem when testing the null hypothesis of a linear model against the alternative of the Markov switching model is the presence of nuisance parameters. Consequently, the likelihood ratio test statistic does not possess the standard chi-squared distribution. In my third essay I perform a Monte Carlo experiment to explore the small sample properties of the pseudo likelihood ratio test statistic under the non-standard conditions. I find no evidence of size distortion. However, I do find that size adjusted power is very poor in small samples. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Primarily, the purpose of the study was to show the immediate effects of the depression on the educational program in the United States. Secondarily, the writer hoped to encourage teachers not only to ward off another similar catastrophe but also to make the present educational program take care of the devastating effects of the past depression as far as possible.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / A historical analysis of the philanthropic response to the Great Depression by community foundations; the thesis uses the individual story of the Indianapolis Foundation as a case study to provide detailed examples of how community foundations modified their grant-making behavior in response to the Great Depression’s economic effects.

This is a study of the group of boy transients who came to the State Relief Administration office in San Francisco between April, 1936 and June, 1937 and requested that they be returned to their homes. The boys who did not wish to go home were not interviewed at this office, and no record was kept of those referred to other agencies.

For an introductory macroeconomics course, the discussion of historical relevance helps foster important learning connections. By comparing the Great Depression to the 2008-2009 recession, a macroeconomics instructor can provide students with connections to history. This paper discusses the major causes of each recession, major fiscal policy and monetary policy decisions of both recessions, and the respective relevance in teaching the relationship of each policy to gross domestic product. The teaching points addressed in this paper are directed towards an introductory college-level macroeconomics course, incorporating a variety of theories from historical and economic writers and data from government and central bank sources. A lesson plan is included in an appendix to assist the instructor in implementing the material.