Editing Long Depression (section)

{{short description|Worldwide economic recession from 1873 to 1879}}
{{distinguish|text=[[long-term depression]], a neurophysiological process in the brain}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}}
The '''Long Depression''' was a worldwide price and economic [[recession]], beginning in [[Panic of 1873|1873]] and running either through March 1879, or 1899, depending on the metrics used.<ref>[https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/history/americas-economic-history/the-long-depression-the-first-great-depression/ The Long Depression – the First Great Depression (America's Economic History. Posted Jul 16, 2015 by Martin Armstrong)]</ref> 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 [[recession|a general contraction]], it did not have the severe economic retrogression of the later Great Depression.<ref>{{Cite journal | title = Political and Social Consequences of the Great Depression of 1873–1896 in Central Europe | last = Rosenberg | first = Hans | journal = The Economic History Review | volume = 13| series = 13 | year = 1943 | pages = 58–73 | jstor = 2590515 | issue = 1/2 | publisher = Blackwell Publishing | doi = 10.1111/j.1468-0289.1943.tb01613.x }}</ref>

The United Kingdom was the hardest hit; during this period it lost some of its large industrial lead over the economies of [[continental Europe]].<ref>{{Cite journal | title = The Great Depression in Britain, 1873–1896: A Reappraisal | last = Musson | first = A. E. | journal = The Journal of Economic History | volume = 19 | issue = 2 | year = 1959 | pages = 199–228 | jstor = 2114975 | publisher = Cambridge University Press| doi = 10.1017/S0022050700109994 | s2cid = 154705117 }}</ref>   While it was occurring, the view was prominent that the British economy had been in continuous depression from 1873 to as late as 1896 and some texts refer to the period as the '''Great Depression of 1873–1896''', with financial and manufacturing losses reinforced by a [[Great Depression of British Agriculture|long recession in the agricultural sector]].<ref name=Glasner2>{{Cite book | title = Business cycles and depressions: an encyclopedia | editor1-first = David | editor1-last = Glasner |editor1-link=David Glasner | editor2-first = Thomas F. | editor2-last = Cooley | year = 1997 | location = New York | publisher = Garland Publishing | isbn = 0-8240-0944-4 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/businesscyclesde00glas/page/148 148–149] | last1 = Capie | first1 = Forrest | last2 = Wood | first2 = Geoffrey | chapter = Great Depression of 1873–1896 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/businesscyclesde00glas/page/148 }}</ref>
 
In the United States, historians refer to the '''Depression of 1873–1879''', kicked off by the [[Panic of 1873]], and followed by the [[Panic of 1893]], book-ending an era of prosperity. The U.S. [[National Bureau of Economic Research]] dates the contraction following the panic as lasting from October 1873 to March 1879.  At 65 months, it is the longest-lasting contraction identified by the NBER, eclipsing the Great Depression's 43 months of contraction.<ref name=NBER1>{{Cite web | url = https://www.nber.org/cycles/cyclesmain.html | work = [[National Bureau of Economic Research]] | title = Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions | access-date =January 4, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/1927196 | title = The Long-Wave Depression, 1873–97 | author = Fels, Rendigs | year = 1949 | journal = The Review of Economics and Statistics | pages = 69–73 | volume = 31 | issue = 1 | publisher = The MIT Press | jstor = 1927196 }}</ref>  In the United States, from 1873 to 1879, 18,000 businesses went bankrupt, including 89 railroads.<ref>[http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2013/wp13214.pdf The Economic Performance Index (EPI), Vadim Khramov and John Ridings Lee]</ref>  Unemployment peaked in 1878 at 8.25%.<ref>James R. Vernon,  "Unemployment rates in postbellum America: 1869–1899." ''Journal of Macroeconomics'' 16.4 (1994): 701–714. [https://delong.typepad.com/1-s2.0-0164070494900086-main.pdf online]</ref>