Great Depression
<p >The <b>Great Depression</b> was a severe worldwide <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_(economics)" title="Depression (economics)" >economic depression</a> in the decade preceding <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II" >World War II</a>. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in 1930 and lasted until the late 1930s or middle 1940s.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup> It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century.<sup id="cite_ref-ReferenceA_2-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-ReferenceA-2" >[2]</a></sup>
In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the world's economy can decline.<sup id="cite_ref-ReferenceA_2-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-ReferenceA-2" >[2]</a></sup> The depression originated in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" >United States</a>, after the fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929" title="Wall Street Crash of 1929" >stock market crash</a> of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday).
The Great Depression had devastating effects in countries <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country" title="Developed country" >rich</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World" title="Third World" >poor</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income" title="Personal income" >Personal income</a>, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and in some countries rose as high as 33%.<sup id="cite_ref-Frank_Bernanke_3-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-Frank_Bernanke-3" >[3]</a></sup>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_in_the_Great_Depression" title="Cities in the Great Depression" >Cities all around the world</a> were hit hard, especially those dependent on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_industry" title="Heavy industry" >heavy industry</a>. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farming" title="Farming" class="mw-redirect" >Farming</a> and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by approximately 60%.<sup id="cite_ref-USBLS_4-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-USBLS-4" >[4]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-5" >[5]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-6" >[6]</a></sup> Facing plummeting demand with few alternate sources of jobs, areas dependent on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_sector_of_economic_activity" title="Primary sector of economic activity" class="mw-redirect" >primary sector industries</a>such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_crop" title="Cash crop" >cash cropping</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining" title="Mining" >mining</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logging" title="Logging" >logging</a> suffered the most.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-7" >[7]</a></sup>
Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s. In many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until after the end of World War II.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#cite_note-8" >[8]</a></sup>
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