Between Jackson and the creation of the Federal Reserve, the USA had an extremely unstable banking system. In the latter half of the 19th century after the Civil War, the US economy was beset by financial panics that caused depressions much longer and more severe than the ones seen today. For instance, the Panic of 1873 lasted 6 years and saw double digit unemployment. The Panic of 1893 lasted 4 years. Still, there kind of is a sharp uptick that you see on this graph. It’s just that the World Wars were the much more important events in boosting America to the place in the world it has today (and conversely, in weakening Great Britain)
SpreadEagleCros_s t1_j8mscr6 wrote
Reply to comment by sparkyhodgo in [OC] History of how the U.S. economy outstripped the U.K. economy and how Brexit deepened the gap by tabthough
Between Jackson and the creation of the Federal Reserve, the USA had an extremely unstable banking system. In the latter half of the 19th century after the Civil War, the US economy was beset by financial panics that caused depressions much longer and more severe than the ones seen today. For instance, the Panic of 1873 lasted 6 years and saw double digit unemployment. The Panic of 1893 lasted 4 years. Still, there kind of is a sharp uptick that you see on this graph. It’s just that the World Wars were the much more important events in boosting America to the place in the world it has today (and conversely, in weakening Great Britain)