Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Differences Between The Early Stages Of The Unemployment Rates: The Great Recession Vs. The Great Depression, Lall Ramrattan, Michael Szenberg

Lander College of Arts and Sciences Publications and Research

We test for differences between the Great Recession and the Great Depression in the US, using unemployment rates. The test used is ANOVA. The hypothesis advanced is that the early phases of the recession and depression are non-different. At first we reject the hypothesis. But by incorporating government involvement for the two periods, we obtain moderate arguments for the acceptance of the hypothesis. The paper starts out with background ideas of the two periods, then proceeds to the testing based on actual data, deviation of actual from normal or NAIRU rates, and adjusted data for government capital injection and subsidies.