Financial crisis and depression: can we learn from the Great Depression?

Summary This article compares the crises of the 1930s and 2008 on two points: on the one hand, the reactions of the authorities at the most acute moment of these two banking and financial crises, which differed greatly thanks to the experience acquired following the Great Depression, both in the United States and in Europe; and, on the other hand, the financial regulations put in place in reaction to the 2008 crisis. It shows that the set of regulations adopted during the Great Depression was progressively challenged from the 1950s to the 1990s, removing many inconsistencies or inefficiencies, but also recreating a significant fragility that was to manifest itself in 2008. Because of the political and scientific context, the long stagnation that followed 2008 has not (yet) given rise to such a significant regulatory movement.