Bloomberg, December 16, 2011, Friday

Bloomberg

December 16, 2011, Friday

Bloomberg (full article)

How Did World War II End the Great Depression?: Echoes

By Louis Hyman

It is commonly opined, in high school history classes and backyard barbeques, that government spending in the run-up to World War II "got us out of the Depression." This narrative conveys the sense that the end of the Great Depression was both accidental and necessarily belligerent.

But exactly how World War II got us out of the Depression is generally ignored -- even though it provides a lesson at odds with the accepted interpretation.