planet money

Summer School 7: The Great Depression, the New Deal and how it changed our economy

Find all the episodes from this season here. And past seasons here. And follow along on TikTok here for video Summer School.

When we last left the United States of America in our economic telling of history, it was the early 1900s and the country’s leaders were starting to feel like they had the economic situation all figured out. Flash forward a decade or so, and the financial picture was still looking pretty good as America emerged from the first World War.

But then, everything came crashing down with the stock market collapse of 1929. Businesses closed, banks collapsed, one in four people was unemployed, families couldn’t make rent, the economy was broken. And this was happening all over the world. Today we’ll look at how leaders around the globe intervened to turn the international economy around, and in the process, how the Great Depression rapidly transformed the relationship between government and business forever.

This series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Audrey Dilling. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Sofia Shchukina.

Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy