Show Notes
The Long Depression spanned the 1870s into the 1890s, characterised by a prolonged squeeze on capitalist profits, deflation, protectionism and class conflict. How were the harms of this period distributed between classes? What does this early crisis of capitalism tell us about the relationship between crisis and capitalism more generally? How can it help us understand the contributions and limitations of marginalism and neoclassical economics?
Matthew Watson is Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss the Long Depression, how it was experienced differently by elites and non-elites, its debatable status as a crisis, and its place in the thought of marginalists and early political economists.
Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.
Recommended reading for this episode:
1) Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts (2000) 2) Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire: 1875–1914 (1987)
Works referenced in this episode:
Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (1890) François Quesnay, Tableau Economique (1758) W. Stanley Jevons, Commercial Crises and Sun-Spots (1878) Albert Musson, The Great Depression in Britain, 1873–1896: a Reappraisal (1959) Quentin Skinner, Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas (1969)
This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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