Editing Economic depression (section)

== Notable depressions ==

===The General Crisis of 1640===
{{main|The General Crisis}}
The largest depression of all time occurred during [[the General Crisis]].{{cn|date=November 2022}} The [[Ming Empire]] of China went bankrupt and the [[Stuart Monarchy]] fought a [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms|civil war on three fronts in Ireland, Scotland, and England]]. [[Thomas Hobbes]], an English philosopher, created the first recorded explanation of the need for a universal [[Social Contract]] in his 1651 book ''[[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]]'' based on the general misery within society during this period.

===Great depression of 1837===
This depression is acknowledged to be a worse depression in the United States than the later Great Depression of the 1930s.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Social History of an American Depression, 1837–1843|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=40|issue=4|pages=662–687|date=1 July 1935|jstor = 1842418|last1 = Rezneck|first1 = Samuel|doi=10.2307/1842418}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2022|reason=This citation dates to the middle of the Great Depression, so it's an apples to oranges comparison since it was written before the Great Depression ended.}} This depression ended in the United States due to the [[California gold rush]] and its tenfold addition to the United States' gold reserves. As with most depressions, it was followed by a thirty-year period of a booming economy in the United States, which is now called the [[Second Industrial Revolution]] (of the 1850s).{{cn|date=November 2022}}

====Panic of 1837====
{{main|Panic of 1837}}

The Panic of 1837 was an American [[financial crisis]], built on a [[Speculation|speculative]] real estate market.<ref name="politonomist.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.politonomist.com/history-of-economic-recessions-00273/3/|title=Panic of 1837 (1837–1842) – History of Economic Recessions|date=2 January 2009|publisher=Politonomist.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406205415/http://www.politonomist.com/history-of-economic-recessions-00273/3/|archive-date=6 April 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> The bubble burst on 10 May 1837 in [[New York City]], when every [[bank]] stopped payment in [[gold]] and [[silver]] [[coin]]age. The Panic was followed by a five-year depression,<ref name="politonomist.com" /> with the failure of [[bank]]s and record high unemployment levels.<ref name="Glasner">{{Cite book|title=Business cycles and depressions: an encyclopedia|author=Timberlake, Richard H. Jr.|publisher=Garland Publishing|year=1997|isbn=978-0-8240-0944-1|editor1=Glasner, David|location=New York|pages=514–516|chapter=Panic of 1837|editor2=Cooley, Thomas F.|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/businesscyclesde00glas}}</ref>

=== Long Depression ===
{{Further|Long Depression}}
[[File: Tompkins square riot 1874.jpg|thumb|New York police using force to remove rioting protesters in [[Tompkins Square Riot (1874)|Tompkins Square Park]], 1874]]

Starting with the adoption of the [[gold standard]] in Britain and the United States, the [[Long Depression]] (1873–1896) was indeed longer than what is now referred to as the Great Depression, but shallower in some sectors. Many who lived through it regarded it to have been worse than the 1930s depression at times. It was known as "the Great Depression" until the 1930s.{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}}

===Great Depression===
{{main|Great Depression}}

The [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s affected most national economies in the world. This depression is generally considered to have begun with the [[Wall Street crash of 1929]], and the crisis quickly spread to other national economies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/about.htm |title=About the Great Depression |publisher=English.uiuc.edu |access-date=7 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220090243/http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/about.htm |archive-date=20 December 2008 }}</ref> Between 1929 and 1933, the [[gross national product]] of the United States decreased by 33% while the rate of [[unemployment]] increased to 25% (with industrial unemployment alone rising to approximately 35% – U.S. employment was still over 25% agricultural).{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}

A long-term effect of the Great Depression was the departure of every major currency from the [[gold standard]], although the initial impetus for this was [[World War II]] (see [[Bretton Woods Accord]]).

===Greek depression===
{{main|European sovereign-debt crisis}}

Beginning in 2009, Greece sank into a recession that, after two years, [[Greek government-debt crisis|became a depression]]. The country saw an almost 20% drop in economic output, and unemployment soared to near 25%.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/greece-gdp-idUSL5E8ME4WM20121114 |title=Greece sinks deeper into depression in third quarter |agency=Reuters|date= 14 November 2012|access-date=14 November 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114221922/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/14/greece-gdp-idUSL5E8ME4WM20121114 |archive-date=14 November 2012 }}</ref> Greece's high amounts of [[sovereign debt]] precipitated the crisis, and the poor performance of its economy after the introduction of severe [[austerity]] measures slowed the entire eurozone's recovery.{{cn|date=November 2022}} Greece's troubles led to discussions about [[Greek withdrawal from the eurozone|its departure from the eurozone]].

===Post-communism depression===
The economic crisis in the 1990s that struck former members of the [[Soviet Union]] was almost twice as intense as the Great Depression in the countries of [[Western Europe]] and the United States in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite web |title=What Can Transition Economies Learn from the First Ten Years? A New World Bank Report in Transition Newsletter |url=http://worldbank.org/transitionnewsletter/janfeb2002 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20130609102438/http://worldbank.org/transitionnewsletter/janfeb2002 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 June 2013 |publisher=World Bank }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.k-a.kg/?nid=5&value=6 |title=Kalikova & Associates – Law Firm |language=ru |publisher=K-a.kg |access-date=7 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20120907055134/http://www.k-a.kg/?nid=5&value=6 |archive-date=7 September 2012 }}</ref><ref name=Russia>[https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/08/books/who-lost-russia.html Who Lost Russia?], ''The New York Times'', 8 October 2000</ref> Average [[Standard of living|standards of living]] registered a catastrophic fall in the early 1990s in many parts of the former [[Eastern Bloc]], most notably in [[post-Soviet states]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/966616.stm |title=Child poverty soars in eastern Europe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040718232818/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/966616.stm |archive-date=18 July 2004 |url-status=live|publisher=BBC News |date=11 October 2000}}</ref> Even before [[1998 Russian financial crisis|Russia's financial crisis of 1998]], Russia's GDP was half of what it had been in the early 1990s.<ref name=Russia/> Some populations are still poorer today than they were in 1989 (e.g. [[Ukraine]], [[Moldova]], [[Serbia]], [[Soviet Central Asia|Central Asia]], [[Caucasus]]).{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} The collapse of the Soviet planned economy and the [[Shock therapy (economics)|transition to a market economy]] resulted in catastrophic declines in GDP of about 45% from 1990 to 1996<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.citymayors.com/society/easteurope_cities.html |title=Poverty, crime and migration are acute issues as Eastern European cities continue to grow |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102083735/http://citymayors.com/society/easteurope_cities.html |archive-date=2 January 2010 |type=A report by UN-Habitat |date=11 January 2005}}</ref> and poverty in the region had increased more than tenfold.<ref>{{Citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/12/world/study-finds-poverty-deepening-in-former-communist-countries.html |title=Study Finds Poverty Deepening in Former Communist Countries |newspaper=The New York Times |date=12 October 2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205184219/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/12/world/study-finds-poverty-deepening-in-former-communist-countries.html |archive-date=5 February 2017 }}</ref>

Finnish economists refer to the [[Early 1990s depression in Finland|Finnish economic decline]] during and after the [[breakup of the Soviet Union]] (1989–1994) as a great depression (''suuri lama''). However, the depression was multicausal, with its severity compounded by a coincidence of multiple sudden external shocks, including loss of Soviet trade, the [[savings and loan crisis]] and [[early 1990s recession]] in the West, with the internal overheating that had been brewing throughout the 1980s. Liberalization had resulted in the so-called "casino economy". Persistent structural and monetary policy problems had not been solved, leaving the economy vulnerable to even mild external shocks. The depression had lasting effects: the Finnish markka was floated and was eventually replaced by the euro in 1999, ending decades of government control of the economy, but also high, persistent unemployment. Employment has never returned even close to the pre-crisis level.{{cn|date=November 2022}}