The Great Depression in the Netherlands (Dutch : De Grote Depressie, also called the crisis years: de Crisisjaren, de Crisistijd) occurred between 1933 and 1936, [1] significantly later than in most other countries. It was a period of severe economic crisis in the 1930s which affected countries around the world, including the Netherlands.
In the United States, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 is understood as the start of the Great Depression. But in the Netherlands the depression started more gradually, in 1929–1931, while the economy had been in a gradual decline for a longer period. In the Netherlands the depression lasted significantly longer than in most countries, partly because of structural characteristics of the Dutch economy and partly because of the policy of the government. The refusal to drop the gold standard plays a central role. The Great Depression led to political instability and riots, and can be linked to the rise of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands. The depression in the Netherlands lessened at the end of 1936, but real economic stability did not return until after World War II.
Because of its neutrality in World War I, the Netherlands did not face the problems of war reparations, war damage and population loss which caused economic problems in other European countries. But because of the international character of the Dutch economy these problems also had their consequences for the Netherlands. In particular, the unrest and economic problems in Germany, one of the Netherlands' main trading partners, in the early 1920s plunged the Netherlands into a severe depression until 1925 (lowest point reached in 1923). [1]
After 1925, partly because of economic improvements in Germany, the post-war depression in the Netherlands ended and the country rejoined the gold standard. However, among others because of strong trade restrictions in Germany, this improvement was limited and did not cause an economic boom as in some other European countries and the United States (associated with the Roaring Twenties). In spite of these slight economic improvements the Dutch economy struggled with structural problems in the period before the Great Depression. Trade restrictions and economic protectionism had not fully disappeared after World War I, and world trade failed to pick up again after the war. The Dutch economy had long been dependent on international trade and finance (in 1929 an estimated 30% of the GNP came from export), [1] and especially the big shipping sector suffered from the lack of trading opportunities. Another problem was the combination of high post-World War I birthrates and increasing labour productivity, which meant that any increase of demand did not cause general welfare increase or a decrease of unemployment.
Until 1931 the social consequences of the economic crisis had been limited; by decreasing work hours and wages, mass unemployment had so far been avoided in most sectors. However, around 1931 mass unemployment did start and those workers who could keep their jobs often had to accept significant wage cuts. Rough estimates of unemployment show a surge between 1930 and 1932, and a steady increase up to the end of 1936. [2] Not every sector of the economy suffered equally; while the shipping and trading sectors were hit especially hard, some specialised sectors, such as the tobacco industry, survived the first stage of the depression relatively unharmed. [1]
At the start of the depression, employed workers still saw their wage cuts matched by strong decreases of the price of consumption articles. But after the first years of the depression they too suffered from a decrease in real income. [1] For the increasing numbers of unemployed, the situation was much worse. Until the 1930s, Dutch society did not have the experience and infrastructure needed to deal with mass unemployment. In large parts of society, it was felt that unemployed people should above all be stimulated to find work, so only income support at subsistence level should be given. Even though finding work had now become impossible for large numbers of people, social sentiments towards the unemployed changed only slowly.
Labour unions had funds for temporary income support for newly unemployed workers, to which the government added some subsidy. So union members were spared real poverty for a limited period. In the later stages of the depression, however, these union funds became depleted while the government also reduced its subsidy, forcing unions to steadily decrease the time period and amount of support. Non-unionised workers and workers whose union support period had run out depended on a government poverty fund, which supported them up to subsistence level. This minimal income support came with a heavy social stigma, which reflected the values of contemporary society. Support receivers had to report at a government agency twice a day, waiting in the endless lines of unemployed which became a symbol of the depression. They also had to allow government inspectors to visit them at home and investigate their daily life, which quickly became a strongly hated practice among the unemployed.
Social stigmatisation also took the form of clearly recognisable signs, such as red coloured subsidised clothing and the especially painful sign that a person was exempt from bicycle taxation (to be worn on a bicycle or on one’s clothing). In addition to scarce government aid, there were private initiatives to support the poor. The most important of these organisations was the Nationaal Crisis Comité (National Crisis Committee), established by Princess Juliana in 1931. But because of the limited scale of this organisation, it was unable to structurally improve the situation.
As most other countries, the Netherlands experienced significant social unrest during the Great Depression. But except for a number of impressive events, this unrest was actually quite limited in scale. Statistics of labour strikes, for example, show that during the 1931–1937 period strikes were actually less common in the Netherlands than in the previous years of economic stability from 1925 to 1930. At the height of the Great Depression in the Netherlands, the number of strikes was lowest. Another form of protest was rentstriking, the refusal by a tenant to pay rent to a landlord. This form of protest was also quite limited in scale, partly because of harsh government intervention.
More impressive was the strike or mutiny in 1933 of the sailors of De Zeven Provinciën, an armored ship of the Royal Netherlands Navy. As earlier in the United Kingdom (Invergordon Mutiny), the sailors protested a cut of their wages. The mutiny ended when the Dutch army bombed the ship, killing 22 of the sailors and forcing the rest of the crew to surrender. In 1934 another impressive event took place known as the Jordaanoproer. A reduction of the already low government unemployment support sparked protest and riots in several cities in the Netherlands, most strongly in the Jordaan neighbourhood of Amsterdam. Between 4 July and 9 July, the riots and subsequent harsh intervention by police and military police claimed six lives and wounded dozens more.
The upheaval of the Great Depression can also be linked to a rise of xenophobia [ citation needed ] and the, albeit limited, success of the National Socialist Movement (NSB). Founded in 1931, the NSB gained some popularity during the depression, with a peak of support in terms of its membership in 1936. When the strength of the depression lessened after 1937, support for the NSB fell again.
An important difference between the Great Depression in the Netherlands and the situation in most other affected countries was the role of the government. Until the late 1930s the Dutch government, headed from 1933 to 1939 by the Anti-Revolutionary statesman Hendrik Colijn, could be described as non-interventionist and strongly internationalist. Its economic policy focussed mainly on keeping a balanced budget for government spending and income. While this government policy was typical for contemporary European and American governments, it was applied especially strictly in the Netherlands until the late stages of the depression.
In the first years of the depression government policy limited itself to supporting the most heavily affected sectors of the economy. In 1931 a wheat law was issued (Dutch: Tarwewet), which forced importers of foreign wheat to add a quantity of more expensive Dutch wheat before sale, to promote the troubled Dutch agriculture. Starting in 1932 a series of "crisis laws" was issued to further subsidise the agricultural and shipping sectors, and to enable a measure of government control on import, export and capital flows. From 1934 onward the Dutch government also experimented with a Labour Fund (Dutch: Werkfonds) to provide subsidised workplaces for the unemployed, often on large scale public works (comparable with the New Deal in the United States).
The scale of these government interventions was however too small to really change the situation. While government intervention on the economy was very limited, the Dutch government did lower its spending (including income support to the poor and unemployed) and raised taxes to keep its budget balanced. The effect of this was that while poverty increased, government support to the poor decreased. Such a government policy is heavily criticised by the Keynesian school of economics, which at that time was still in its infancy. Keynesianism stresses that governments should play an active role in promoting public and private consumption during an economic depression, so a balanced government budget should only be aimed at on the long run.
The Dutch government was also very reluctant to intervene in its trade policy. While most industrialised countries strongly increased their trade restrictions from the early stages of the Great Depression onward, the Dutch government still hoped for international cooperation to solve the economic crisis. Only after the failed 1933 World Economic Conference, when it became clear that countries had to solve their economic problems by themselves, did the Netherlands increase its trade barriers to a more significant level. But as described earlier the Netherlands was still unwilling to drop the gold standard, and instead joined an agreement between the last European countries to maintain the gold standard. This subjected the Dutch economy to fierce foreign competition, forcing Dutch firms to strongly cut their costs in order to survive this situation. In the process wages and employment were cut, and the depression deepened. While the economic situation gradually improved in most industrialised countries around 1933-1934, the Great Depression was still getting worse in the Netherlands.
As in most other affected countries, the end of the Great Depression in the Netherlands was gradual, but in the Netherlands, recovery did not start before 1936, when the country abandoned the gold standard.
By 1933, only a few European states still remained with the gold standard, while among others the United Kingdom and the United States had abandoned it. By cooperating in international negotiation as a "gold bloc" and lowering trade restrictions among themselves these states tried to survive harsh foreign competition without accepting currency devaluation. Internal trade failed to solve their problems, however, and by 1935 only France, Switzerland and the Netherlands remained in this gold bloc. When France finally decided to accept devaluation in 1936, the Netherlands had no choice but to follow. While the Netherlands had been so reluctant to drop the gold standard, it quickly brought an economic boost after years of decline. In 1936 the Dutch stock market started climbing again, trade slowly recovered and unemployment stopped growing. [1] Finally the country could now profit from the ongoing economic recovery that had been taking place for many of its trading partners.
In 1937 the short period of economic recovery in the Netherlands stagnated again when the United States suffered its Recession of 1937–38. Another reason for stagnation were the rising political tensions caused by Germany's increasingly aggressive behaviour, causing uncertainty and the withdrawal of capital from European economies. At the same time the effects of the depression became less visible as European states started to rearm themselves in the preamble of World War II. The Netherlands started its rearmament relatively late and imported much of its weaponry, but by 1938 the artificial economic recovery caused by pre-war preparations also had its effects on the Netherlands.
By 1939, large numbers of formerly unemployed people had been drafted into the army, while rising defence expenditure (the budget tripled between 1936 and 1939) [1] artificially revived several sectors of the economy. Right before World War II an event took place which could have been very influential, had it happened earlier. The cabinet led by Hendrik Colijn was succeeded by the De Geer cabinet, which included two members of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) for the first time in history. The new cabinet proposed an ambitious strategy to invest large sums of money in public works to finally end the depression. But before this new policy could fully be implemented the Netherlands was dragged into World War II. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the Dutch economy transformed into a war economy.
Keynesian economics are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand strongly influences economic output and inflation. In the Keynesian view, aggregate demand does not necessarily equal the productive capacity of the economy. It is influenced by a host of factors that sometimes behave erratically and impact production, employment, and inflation.
Unemployment, according to the OECD, is people above a specified age not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the reference period.
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the late 1920s to 1932 as well as from 1944 until 1971 when the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. Many states nonetheless hold substantial gold reserves.
An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies. It is often understood in economics that economic crisis and the following recession that may be named economic depression are part of economic cycles where the slowdown of the economy follows the economic growth and vice versa. It is a result of more severe economic problems or a downturn than the recession itself, which is a slowdown in economic activity over the course of the normal business cycle of growing economy.
The economy of the Netherlands is a highly developed market economy focused on trade and logistics, manufacturing, services, innovation and technology and sustainable and renewable energy. It is the world's 18th largest economy by nominal GDP and the 28th largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) and is the fifth largest economy in European Union by nominal GDP. It has the world's 11th highest per capita GDP (nominal) and the 13th highest per capita GDP (PPP) as of 2023 making it one of the highest earning nations in the world. Many of the world's largest tech companies are based in its capital Amsterdam or have established their European headquarters in the city, such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Cisco, Uber, Netflix and Tesla. Its second largest city Rotterdam is a major trade, logistics and economic center of the world and is Europe's largest seaport. Netherlands is ranked fifth on global innovation index and fourth on the Global Competitiveness Report. Among OECD nations, Netherlands has a highly efficient and strong social security system; social expenditure stood at roughly 25.3% of GDP.
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression. It was Britain's largest and most profound economic depression of the 20th century. The Great Depression originated in the United States in late 1929 and quickly spread to the world. Britain did not experience the boom that had characterized the U.S., Germany, Canada and Australia in the 1920s, so its effect appeared less severe. Britain's world trade fell by half (1929–33), the output of heavy industry fell by a third, employment profits plunged in nearly all sectors. At the depth in summer 1932, registered unemployed numbered 3.5 million, and many more had only part-time employment. However at the same time, from 1929 to 1933 employment dipped only to 94.9% relative to 1929 employment metrics and recovery was seen as early at 1933. The positive trend continued across real national income and wages. New houses built increased by 33% from 1929 to 1933, while profits, prices, export volume and value, and imports volume and value dropped. Overall, while all these metrics were concerning to parliament and businessmen along with devastating industrial regions, the common person especially in areas around London did not experience major hardship and even prospered.
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The worldwide Great Depression of the early 1930s was a social and economic shock that left millions of Canadians unemployed, hungry and often homeless. Few countries were affected as severely as Canada during what became known as the "Dirty Thirties", due to Canada's heavy dependence on raw material and farm exports, combined with a crippling Prairies drought known as the Dust Bowl. Widespread losses of jobs and savings ultimately transformed the country by triggering the birth of social welfare, a variety of populist political movements, and a more activist role for government in the economy.
The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1899, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. The episode was labeled the "Great Depression" at the time, and it held that designation until the Great Depression of the 1930s. Though it marked a period of general deflation and a general contraction, it did not have the severe economic retrogression of the later Great Depression.
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In the United States, the Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and then spread worldwide. The nadir came in 1931–1933, and recovery came in 1940. The stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth as well as for personal advancement. Altogether, there was a general loss of confidence in the economic future.
The Great Depression in Latin America heavily affected the region in the 1930s after the Great Depression had spread globally since the stock market crash of 1929 on Wall Street.
Fiscal policy is any changes the government makes to the national budget to influence a nation's economy. "An essential purpose of this Financial Report is to help American citizens understand the current fiscal policy and the importance and magnitude of policy reforms essential to make it sustainable. A sustainable fiscal policy is explained as the debt held by the public to Gross Domestic Product which is either stable or declining over the long term". The approach to economic policy in the United States was rather laissez-faire until the Great Depression. The government tried to stay away from economic matters as much as possible and hoped that a balanced budget would be maintained. Prior to the Great Depression, the economy did have economic downturns and some were quite severe. However, the economy tended to self-correct so the laissez faire approach to the economy tended to work.
The Great Depression in France started in about 1931 and lasted through the remainder of the decade. The crisis started in France a bit later than other countries. The 1920s economy had grown at the very strong rate of 4.43% per year, the 1930s rate fell to only 0.63%. The depression was relatively mild compared to other countries since unemployment peaked under 5%, the fall in production was at most 20% below the 1929 output and there was no banking crisis.
Unemployment was the dominant issue of British society during the interwar years. Unemployment levels rarely dipped below 1,000,000 and reached a peak of more than 3,000,000 in 1933, a figure which represented more than 20% of the working population. The unemployment rate was even higher in areas including South Wales and Liverpool. The Government extended unemployment insurance schemes in 1920 to alleviate the effects of unemployment.
The Great Depression was a period of severe global economic downturn that occurred from 1929 to 1939. It was characterised by high unemployment rates, crisies of liquidity, and widespread business failures around the world. The economic contagion began around September 1929 in the United States, the largest economy in the world. Economic historians usually consider the devastating Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929, often referred to as "Black Tuesday," to have been the catalyst of the Great Depression.
The Great Depression in India was a period of economic depression in the Indian subcontinent, then under British colonial rule. Beginning in 1929 in the United States, the Great Depression soon began to spread to countries around the globe. A global financial crisis, combined with protectionist policies adopted by the colonial government resulted in a rapid increase in the price of commodities in British India. During the period 1929–1937, exports and imports in India fell drastically, crippling seaborne international trade in the region; the Indian railway and agricultural sectors were the most affected by the depression. Discontent from farmers resulted in riots and rebellions against colonial rule, while increasing Indian nationalism led to the Salt Satyagraha of 1930, in which Mahatma Gandhi undertook marches to the sea in order to protest against the British salt tax.
The initial economic collapse which resulted in the Great Depression can be divided into two parts: 1929 to mid-1931, and then mid-1931 to 1933. The initial decline lasted from mid-1929 to mid-1931. During this time, most people believed that the decline was merely a bad recession, worse than the recessions that occurred in 1923 and 1927, but not as bad as the Depression of 1920-21. Economic forecasters throughout 1930 optimistically predicted an economic rebound come 1931, and felt vindicated by a stock market rally in the spring of 1930.
The Great Depression that begun 1929 was felt strongly in Chile from 1930 to 1932. Saltpetre and copper exports collapsed. The World Economic Survey of the League of Nations declared Chile the worst affected nation by the depression. Such economic devastation worsened Chile's economic prosperity, highlighted particularly in 1932 that exemplifies a rapid fall in exports, imports, GDP and the value of industrial production from pre-depression levels. Chiles exports dropped from US$279m in 1929 to US$35m in 1932, which in real terms corresponds to 1/6 of export level in 1929. In accordance to this time period, Chile's imports fell from US$197m in 1929 to US$26m in 1932. Similarly, real GDP dropped from 100 in 1929 to 67 in 1932, contributed by the fall of the value of production from 100 in 1929 to 77 in 1932 alongside a rapid decrease in the average annual production that reached the equivalent to one quarter of 1929 levels in December 1932. Alongside a decrease in employment in the mining sector, in terms of GDP and productive activity, mining dropped to 26.3 in 1932 from 1929 levels of 100.
The European interwar economy began when the countries in Western Europe were struggling to recover from the devastation caused by the First World War, while also dealing with economic depression and the rise of fascism. Economic prosperity in the United States during the first half of the period was brought to an end with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929.
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