on The French Depression in the 1930s1

This paper shows that, first, in contradiction with the conventional view regard-ing the French depression, there are more similarities than differences between the French and U.S. episodes in the 1930s, which suggests the need for an explana-tion with a similar cause; second, technological change (regression or stagnation) is neither sufficient nor necessary to account for the French depression; and third, institutional and market regulation changes provide an explanation that is quanti-tatively plausible, but the causes of those changes are still to be explained. Journa