Robert Barro on Lessons of the Great Depression →

No I think what is much clearer is the role of the financial system and the credit implosion, both in the 1930s and today. The rest of the stuff may just be a sideshow, it may not be that important. There’s a strong tendency for the economy to recover on its own, as long as it’s not subject to further new shocks, so a likely scenario is that that is what will happen today as well. And then the Obama administration will say that it’s because of our policy that things recovered, and there won’t be any way to prove whether that’s right or wrong.

Great Myths of the Great Depression →

We certainly need to evaluate what we have learned from the reasons for the extension and severity of the recession and depression of our economy in the 1930’s; namely that monetary policy and negative attitudes towards business, policy and attitudes that are eerily familiar today, are some of the primary reasons we should be studying.

Failed policies of the past will not save us, Mr. Obama.