“We Must Deflate”: The Crime of 1920 Revisited

@article{Shaw2016WeMD,
  title={“We Must Deflate”: The Crime of 1920 Revisited},
  author={Christopher W. Shaw},
  journal={Enterprise \&\#x0026; Society},
  year={2016},
  volume={17},
  pages={618 - 650}
}
Post-World War I Federal Reserve System policy focused on reducing price levels. Faith in liquidationist ideas led Federal Reserve officials to maintain tight-money policies during the depression of 1920–1921. Farmers suffering through this economic crisis objected to contemporary monetary policy. Organized labor and leading Progressive reformer Robert M. La Follette Sr. seconded their criticism. Postwar challenges to the nation’s financial leadership and its priorities bore tangible results by… 
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