The Great Depression was the worst economic crises to hit the
globe economy, lasting from 1929 to 1939. During this period: (i)
the US stock market crashed which caused pessimism to grow; (ii)
banks failed, which led to consumers losing their deposits, and a
gap between savings and investment; (iii) Fed allowed money supply
to plunge by nearly 30%. Assume that these three changes are
permanent and there were no fiscal or monetary policy
response.
a. If the stock market crash caused pessimism to grow amongst
consumers and investors, how will this affect aggregate demand in
the economy?
b. How does this bank failure affect demand for investment at
a given interest rate?
c. Use the AS/AD model to demonstrate the short-run impact of
the Great Depression on the Aggregate Demand (AD) curve, the
short-run Aggregate Supply curve (AS), real GDP, price level and
unemployment. Your answer should include:
i. An AS/AD graph with all curves and quantities clearly
labeled. For curves and quantities that change, label their
pre-crisis values with a “0” subscript and their post-crisis values
with a “1” subscript. For curves and quantities that don’t change,
leave out the subscript.
ii. Specific predictions for which variables will go up, which
will go down, which will remain the same, and which could go up or
down.
d. Use the LRAS/AD model to demonstrate the long-run impact of
the global financial crisis on the Aggregate Demand curve, the
short-run Aggregate Supply (AS) curve, the long-run aggregate
supply (LRAS) curve, real GDP, and the price level. Ignore the
effect of reduced investment on the capital stock. Your answer
should include:
i. An AS/AD graph with all curves clearly labeled. For curves
and quantities that change, label their pre-crisis values with a
“0” subscript and their post-crisis values with a “1” subscript.
For curves and quantities that don’t change, leave out the
subscript.
ii. Specific predictions for which variables will go up, which
will go down, which will remain the same, and which could go up or
down.