Australia during the great depression essays

Australia during the great depression essays A depression is a deep and extended slump in total business activity, where both buying and selling drop, causing a decline in production, prices, income and employment. Money becomes limited, many businesses fail and many workers lose their jobs. Unemployed workers have less money to spend, which leads to further drops in sales and demand for products, which leads to decreased production and more employees losing their jobs. This seemingly endless downward spiral can continue until the economy is able to recover, employment and demand for products increases and life may continue normally. A depression of this kind can affect a single industry, a region, a nation or even the entire world. The Great Depression began in 1929 after the Wall Street Crash - shares in the United States were at an all-time high. Investors panicked and sold all of their shares because they knew the prices of their shares could not go any higher only decrease. This massive sell-up of shares was the catalyst for the Great Depression, which was to cripple the economy of the leading nations of the world for almost a decade. As the American economy withered, so did the economies of the countries it had ties with. Australia was one of the worst to be affected by the Depression, because it was a relatively new nation and relied heavily on the support of its international allies. Overseas loans were cut off and debts called to be repaid, but Australia had no funding to spare. Todays Australia has been undeniably shaped by the changing economic circumstances it has been though, such as the Great Depression of 1929 - 1932 In the 1920s, Australias economy prospered because of their healthy income from exports and tariffs. In February of 1923, the Bruce-Page government came into power and brought with it the Men, Money, Markets policy. This was a policy designed to bring labour and capital from the United Kingdom in order to...