Essays on the Great Depression from a Micro Perspective

This dissertation studies various aspects of the Great Depression using newly collected data from the Census of Manufactures. The first chapter lays out where this work fits in the large literature on the Depression as well as the data source employed throughout the dissertation. The second chapter addresses the puzzling decline in productivity during the Great Depression. I argue that a large fraction of the decline is due to an increase in the misallocation of resources and go on to link this increase in misallocation to breakdowns in interbank lending. The third chapter exploits a unique natural experiment from Mississippi to estimate the effects of bank failures on outcomes for the real economy. I find large negative effects on output and employment from bank failures. The fourth chapter joint with Chris Vickers again using plant-level data reexamines the effects of the so-called "Codes of Fair Conduct'' promulgated by the National Industrial Recovery Act. Contra earlier work on the topic, we find strong evidence for collusion in the macaroni industry suggesting that anti-competitive behavior was rather widespread during this time. The fifth chapter concludes with some suggestions for future research.