what caused the great depression?

[Naomi]

[Chloe]

Yo mama sat on me and depressed mah hole bodee lol

[Kootaka]

Depression is attributed to dead of relative like wife, relationship, failing to work, working hard etc.
The cause depends on these circumstances.

[Baron Munchausen]

Many many things. It was like a perfect storm of bad events, including:
* Worldwide social evolution and revolution
* Prohibition and the rise of organized crime
* Worldwide economies going bad
* Depression in Germany from WWI
* Too much borrowing on bad investments (no stock market regulation)
* The Dust Bowl

[LortonDeformatory]

Capitalism.

[louie o]

The economic policy (called laissez faire then, later known as trickle-down economics) used by Presidents Coolidge and Hoover and the deregulation of big business during the 1920's.

[GIO C]

The capitalist bubble burst.

[Fab]

There were many things that contributed to the start of the Great Depression... this included over-production, wherein lots of goods were being produced but no one was buying them, and many farmers were growing too much food, triggering prices to drop.

Whilst all of the above played a part in it, the primary cause was the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which is to date one of the most devastating stock market crashes in history. All Western industrialized countries were affected and it left many people homeless and jobless.

See more about the Wall Street Crash and its causes here: http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/76/eco...rash-1929/

[Martell]

I this is about the Great Depression of 1929 and the '30's, in America it was basically because the Treasury Department printed too much money that was NOT BASED ON GOLD IN THE TREASURY! And thus it all became just that--PAPER MONEY!

[ammianus]

Greedy banks and financial institutions giving easy credit to stock market investors so as to make a quick profit.This caused a stock market bubble that inevitably burst eventually.

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act,which had the effect of crippling international trade.