session 10 - The Great Depression.md

Keywords

• depression economics, fiscal stimulus, monetary standards

Points of discussion

• On the one hand, Ben Bernanke has famously argued that 'Finance Minister Korekiyo Takahashi brilliantly rescued Japan from the Great Depression through reflationary policies'. Barry Eichengreen, on the other hand, has pointed out that it were 'golden fetters' or golden shackles, or, in other words, monetary arrangements rather than fiscal policy, which should be held responsible for the depression that developed after 1929. Are these different arguments or are they complementary? Explain on the basis of the way in which the depression evolved.
• In which respects is Takahashi really extraordinary? Discuss.

Readings

Note: compulsory readings have been marked in bold

• Bernanke, Ben S. 2004. Essays on the Great Depression. Princeton University Press.
• Cha, Myung Soo. 2003. “Did Takahashi Korekiyo Rescue Japan from the Great Depression?” The Journal of Economic History 63 (1): 127–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002205070300175X.
• Eichengreen, Barry. 1996. Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939. Oxford University Press, USA.
• Metzler, Mark. 2006. Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan. Twentieth-Century Japan 17. Berkeley: University of California Press. Chapter 11 and 12.
• Nanto, Dick K., and Shinji Takagi. 1985. “Korekiyo Takahashi and Japan’s Recovery from the Great Depression.” The American Economic Review 75 (2): 369–74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1805627.

Primary sources

Audiovisual materials

• Joya Tilley. n.d. 高校・映像でつづる昭和史＝戦前（高校日本史） FC2 Video. Accessed November 29, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=797&v=klrCSZPvPNA.
• nack500. n.d. あきらめ節 書生節. Accessed November 29, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em8O18-_L3c.
• 0jac7. n.d. 経済難局の打開について（一） 1/8. Accessed November 29, 2018a. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-3_HBP4peM.
• ———. n.d. 経済難局の打開について（二） 2/8. Accessed November 29, 2018d. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_naueF0DjyI.
• ———. n.d. 経済難局の打開について（三） 3/8. Accessed November 29, 2018c. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX6-VBSD92Y.
• ———. n.d. 経済難局の打開について（四） 4/8. Accessed November 29, 2018h. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9TIjmWGtrg.
• ———. n.d. 経済難局の打開について（五） 5/8. Accessed November 29, 2018e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kMQi3nNp-8.
• ———. n.d. 経済難局の打開について（六） 6/8. Accessed November 29, 2018g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_pcfGQltEs.
• ———. n.d. 経済難局の打開について（七） 7/8. Accessed November 29, 2018b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmK0jkVNkKY.
• ———. n.d. 経済難局の打開について（八） 8/8. Accessed November 29, 2018f. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1UpfgWsCgk.
• ototatchinuru18. n.d. 添田唖蝉坊・ノンキ節 / 土取利行（弾き唄い） Nonki-Bushi/ Toshi Tsuchitori. Accessed November 29, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTOU0S3wqU.

Links to other projects, websites, others

• http://cookingthebooks.eu/index.html

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