大萧条(4/7)

Scholars have not agreed on the exact causes and their relative importance. The search for causes is closely connected to the question of how to avoid a future depression, and so the political and policy viewpoints of scholars are mixed into the analysis of historic events eight decades ago. The even larger question is whether it was largely a failure on the part of free markets or largely a failure on the part of government efforts to regulate interest rates, curtail widespread bank failures, and control the money supply. Those who believe in a large role for the state in the economy believe it was mostly a failure of the free markets and those who believe in free markets believe it was mostly a failure of government that compounded the problem. Current theories may be broadly classified into three main points of view. First there are the monetarists, who believe that the Great Depression started as an ordinary recession, but that significant policy mistakes by monetary authorities (especially the Federal Reserve), caused a shrinking of the money supply which greatly exacerbated the economic situation, causing a recession to descend into the Great Depression.

对于造成大萧条的确切原因及其相对重要性学者们意见不一致。对其起因的调查与如何避免未来的经济萧条密切相关，所以学者们的政治和政策观点含有对八十几年前的历史事件的分析。更大的问题在于,这主要是由于自由市场的失败还是由于政府企图调节利率,减少大规模的银行倒闭和控制货币供应的失败。那些认为国家在经济中发挥重大作用的人认为大萧条主要是由于自由市场的失败，然而那些相信自由市场的人相信它主要是由于政府的失败加剧了这一问题。目前的理论大致可分为三个主要的观点。首先是货币主义者,他们认为大萧条始于一场普通的经济衰退,但是货币当局(尤其是联邦储备)做出的重大的政策错误引起了货币供应量收缩，大大加剧了经济形势的恶化,导致经济衰退,陷入大萧条。