EconNerds: The Real Culprit Behind the Great Depression
Econ Nerds is a digital media channel of the Mercatus Center, focused on illuminating the economics in the world around us through fun, contemporary media.
What really caused the worst economic catastrophe of the 20th century? One country’s monetary policy deserves a large share of the blame. In this episode of Econ Nerds, we break down how the return to the gold standard after World War I helped set the stage for the Great Depression—and how one nation’s monetary policy decisions pushed the entire world into deflation, economic collapse, and social turmoil.
With the help of a friendly (and surely harmless) mime, we explain:
How the gold standard linked global currencies
How one country violated the core rule of the gold standard
How their refusal to print money led to arbitrage trades and massive gold inflows
Why the gold imbalance sent prices crashing worldwide
How deflation harmed workers, businesses, and debtors
Why countries only recovered after abandoning gold
NODEHAUS handled the post-production for this piece — from ingesting, editing, motion-graphics animation, sound and color.
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Client: EconNerds, Mercatus Center
Production Co: NODEHAUS
Writer & Host: Matt Hill
Producer, Editing Manager: Roman Hardgrave
Director: Tran Hoang Calvin
Editor: Triston Centretto
Graphics: Triston Centretto, Emily Mosier, Leah Gooding
