Editing Economic depression (section)

==Terminology==
Today the term "depression" is most often associated with the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s, but the term had been in use long before then. Indeed, an early major American economic crisis, the [[Panic of 1819]], was described by then-president [[James Monroe]] as "a depression",<ref name="hnn">{{cite web|url=http://hnn.us/articles/61931.html|title=When Did the Great Depression Receive Its Name? (And Who Named It?)|website=hnn.us |access-date=9 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901125648/http://hnn.us/articles/61931.html|archive-date=1 September 2013}}</ref> and the economic crisis immediately preceding the 1930s depression, the [[Depression of 1920–21]], was referred to as a "depression" by president [[Calvin Coolidge]].

However, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, ''financial'' crises were traditionally referred to as "panics", e.g., the 'major' [[Panic of 1907]], and the 'minor' [[Panic of 1910–1911]], though the 1929 crisis was more commonly called "The Crash", and the term "panic" has since fallen out of use. At the time of the Great Depression (of the 1930s), the phrase "The Great Depression" had already been used to refer to the period 1873–96 (in the United Kingdom), or more narrowly 1873–79 (in the United States), which has since been renamed the [[Long Depression]].

Common use of the phrase "The Great Depression" for the 1930s crisis is most frequently attributed to British economist [[Lionel Robbins]], whose 1934 book ''The Great Depression'' is credited with 'formalizing' the phrase,<ref name="hnn"/> though US president [[Herbert Hoover]] is widely credited with having 'popularized' the term/phrase,<ref name="hnn" /><ref>''The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932–1972'', William Manchester</ref> informally referring to the downturn as a "depression", with such uses as "Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement", (December 1930, Message to Congress) and "I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression" (1931).