Right-wing political extremism in the Great Depression

Barry Eichengreen, Kevin H. O’Rourke, 8 March 2010This column updates the original Vox columns by Barry Eichengreen and Kevin O’Rourke comparing today’s global crisis to the Great Depression. The three previous columns have shattered all Vox readership records with over 450,000 views. This latest edition covers up to February 2010 showing that, while there is cause for optimism, there is no room for complacency.Full Article: A tale of two depressions: What do the new data tell us? February 2010 update

The University of California Press is going to put out a new edition of Charles Kindleberger's World in Depression early next year. J Bradford DeLong and Barry J. Eichengreen: New preface to Charles Kindleberger,* The World in Depression 1929-1939*:

Article written by Prieur du Plessis, editor of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog.The paragraphs below come courtesy of Mark Mobius, Chairman of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group.Myanmar, once known as Burma, has democracy standing on its doorstep.

Markus Brückner, Hans Peter Grüner, 16 May 2010Will the global crisis lead to a rise in political extremism just as during the Great Depression? This column examines the vote share for extreme parties in a sample of 16 OECD countries over three decades. A one percentage point decline in growth leads to a one percentage point increase in the vote share for right-wing or nationalist parties.Full Article: The global crisis and political extremism

David Beckworth submits: Doug Irwin has a great article and podcast on the gold standard during the Great Depression. Among other things, he notes that the countries that left the gold standard the earliest--a radical policy move at the time--were the first ones to experience economic recovery.

ByInvestment Biker:Most countries abandoned the gold standard during the Great Depression of the 1930s. As a result, currencies of major economies lost their intrinsic value in quick succession. Under the gold standard, the currency value was fixed to the price of gold (GLD). This was a major disadvantage as it barred them from printing excess money.