The Causes of the 1929 Stock Market Crash: A Speculative Orgy or a New Era? (Contributions in Economics and Economic History)

Harold Bierman9780313306297, 031330629X

Attempting to reveal the real causes of the 1929 market crash, Bierman refutes the popular belief that wild speculation had excessively driven up stock market prices and resulted in the crash. Although he acknowledges some prices of stocks such as utilities and banks were overpriced, reasonable explanations exist for the level and increase of all other securities prices. Indeed, if stocks were overpriced in 1929, then they are even more overpriced in the current era of staggering growth in stock prices and investment in securities. The causes of the 1929 crash, Bierman argues, lie in an unfavorable decision by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities coupled with the popular practice known as debt leverage in the 1920s corporate and investment arena.