Sign-In
Cart
False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933-1947
Hardcover
Series: Markets and Governments in Economic History
Economics20th Century United States HistoryGeneral Political Science
ISBN13: 9780226832937
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: Apr 15 2025
Pages: 384
Weight: 1.40
Height: 1.10 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.10
Language: English
CHOSEN AS ONE OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2025
A definitive history of the United States' recovery from the Great Depression-and the New Deal's true part in it.
FDR's New Deal has long enjoyed a special place in American history and policy-both because it redefined the government's fundamental responsibilities and because Roosevelt's bold experimentation represented a type of policymaking many would like to see repeated.
But the thing about bold experiments, economist George Selgin reminds us, is that they often fail. In False Dawn Selgin draws on both contemporary sources and numerous studies by economic historians to show that, although steps taken during the Roosevelt administration's first days raised hopes of a speedy recovery from the Great Depression, instead of fulfilling those hopes, subsequent New Deal policies proved so counterproductive that over seventeen percent of American workers-more than the peak unemployment rate during the COVID-19 crisis-were still either unemployed or on work relief six years later.
By distinguishing the New Deal's successes from its failures, and explaining how the U.S. finally managed to lay the specter of mass unemployment to rest, Selgin draws salient lessons for dealing with future recessions.
Also from
Selgin, George
Floored!: How a Misguided Fed Experiment Deepened and Prolonged the Great Recession
Selgin, George
Paperback
Also in
Economics
Family, Fields, and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China's Social and Economic History, 1550-1949
Eastman, Lloyd E.
Paperback
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--And How It Shattered a Nation
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Hardcover
Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life
Mayyasi, Alex
Hosts of Npr's Planet Money
Hardcover
1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World
Ahamed, Liaquat
Hardcover
What Happened to Liberal Democracy?: Remaking a Politics of Shared Prosperity
Acemoglu, Daron
Hardcover
How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn't)
Moore Phd, Joseph S.
Hardcover
Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal about How Markets Work
Roth, Alvin E.
Hardcover
Capitalism for All: Inclusive Economics and the Future-Proofing of America
Bryant, John Hope
Hardcover
Soccernomics (2026 World Cup Edition): Why European Men and American Women Usually Win--And American Men Don't (Yet)
Szymanski, Stefan
Kuper, Simon
Paperback
Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York
Gottlieb, Dylan
Hardcover
Market Wizards: The Next Generation: The World's Top Young Traders Reveal How They Beat the Market
Schwager, Jack D.
Coyle, George F.
Hardcover
Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System--and Themselves
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Paperback
The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History
Williamson, Vanessa S.
Hardcover
How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy
Keynes, Soumaya
Bown, Chad P.
Hardcover
Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World's Most Powerful Industry
Tan, Js
Redwine, Clarissa
Hardcover
House of Fidelity: The Rise of the Johnson Dynasty and the Company That Changed American Investing
Baer, Justin
Hardcover
The Middle-Class New Deal: Restoring Upward Mobility and the American Dream
Dickerson, A. Mechele
Paperback
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--And How It Shatteredâ a Nation (Large Print Edition)
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Paperback
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
Acemoglu, Daron
Robinson, James A.
Paperback
The Invisible Hand of Maria Edgeworth: How a Nineteenth-Century Novelist Taught the World Economics
Smialek, Jeanna
Hardcover
Who Gets What -- And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design
Roth, Alvin E.
Paperback
Freakonomics Twentieth Anniversary Edition: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Dubner, Stephen J.
Levitt, Steven D.
Paperback
5 Steps to a 5: AP Microeconomics 2027: Practice AP Tests + AP Content Review + Digital Exams
Dodge, Eric R.
Paperback
It's on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We're to Blame for Society's Deepest Problems
Loewenstein, George
Chater, Nick
Hardcover
A History of the United States in Five Crashes: Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation
Nations, Scott
Paperback
Broken Money: Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it Better
Alden, Lyn
Paperback
How Africa Works: Success and Failure on the World's Last Developmental Frontier
Studwell, Joe
Hardcover
Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail
Dalio, Ray
Hardcover
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty
Banerjee, Abhijit V.
Duflo, Esther
Paperback
Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity
Marohn, Charles L., Jr.
Hardcover
Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Ariely, Dan
Paperback
Blood and Treasure: The Economics of Conflict from the Vikings to the Modern Era
Weldon, Duncan
Hardcover
Baby Steps Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth--And How You Can Too
Ramsey, Dave
Hardcover
Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead
Rogoff, Kenneth
Paperback
Abundancia: Cómo Construimos Un Mundo Mejor Abundance (Spanish Edition)
Thompson, Derek
Klein, Ezra
Paperback
Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed Bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East
Cole, Matthew
Hardcover
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness
Roberts, Russ
Paperback
Louder Than Words: Take Your Career from Average to Exceptional with the Hidden Power of Nonverbal Intelligence
Poynter, Toni Sciarra
Navarro, Joe
Paperback
The Winner's Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies, Then and Now
Thaler, Richard H.
Imas, Alex
Hardcover
Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom /]Cby Grace Blakeley
Blakeley, Grace
Paperback
Financial Literacy for All: Disrupting Struggle, Advancing Financial Freedom, and Building a New American Middle Class
Bryant, John Hope
Paperback
Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain
Levitt, Steven D.
Dubner, Stephen J.
Paperback
The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism
Mattei, Clara E.
Paperback
The Banker Who Made America: Thomas Willing and the Rise of the American Financial Aristocracy, 1731-1821
Vague, Richard
Hardcover
The Great Global Transformation: The United States, China, and the Remaking of the World Economic Order
Milanovic, Branko
Hardcover
Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy
Slobodian, Quinn
Paperback
The Best Decisions You'll Ever Make: An Economist's Guide to Saving Time, Making Money, and Living Well
Altman, Daniel
Hardcover
The Invention of Infinite Growth: How Economists Came to Believe a Dangerous Delusion
Jones, Christopher F.
Hardcover
Talking to My Daughter about the Economy: Or, How Capitalism Works--And How It Fails
Varoufakis, Yanis
Paperback
Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity
Acemoglu, Daron
Johnson, Simon
Paperback
A Capitalist Manifesto: Understanding The Market Economy And Defending Liberty
Wolfram, Gary
Paperback
Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
Hazlitt, Henry
Paperback
Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet
Collins, Chuck
Hardcover
Credit to the Nation: Eastern European Jewish Immigrant Bankers and the Shaping of American Finance, 1873-1930
Kobrin, Rebecca
Hardcover
The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism
Gramm, Phil
Boudreaux, Donald J.
Hardcover
The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy
Leonard, Christopher
Paperback
The World Order - Our Secret Rulers: A Study in the Hegemony of Parasitism
Mullins, Eustace
Paperback
The Madness of Markets: Why Smart Investors Make Crazy Decisions--And How to Exploit Them
Edmans, Alex
Hardcover
9 Hábitos Japoneses Que Cambiarán Tu Vida / 9 Japanese Habits That Will Change Your Life
Rodríguez, Andrea
Paperback
Small Startup Cities: How to Build a Thriving Startup Ecosystem in a Small City
Halaby, Dominique
Paperback
The Power of Creative Destruction: Economic Upheaval and the Wealth of Nations
Aghion, Philippe
Antonin, Céline
Bunel, Simon
Paperback
AP Microeconomics/Macroeconomics Premium, Eighth Edition: Prep Book with 4 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice (2026)
Redelsheimer, James, M. a.
Musgrave, Frank, PH. D.
Kacapyr, Elia, PH. D.
Paperback
Shapers and Founders: The Untold Stories of Asia's Extraordinary Owner-Ceos
SenGupta, Joydeep
Kumra, Gautam
Lim, Cheryl
Hardcover
Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead
Rogoff, Kenneth
Hardcover
The World's Worst Bet: How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong (and What Would Make It Right)
Lynch, David J.
Hardcover
The Wealth of Nations: The Economics Classic - A Selected Edition for the Contemporary Reader
Smith, Adam
Hardcover
Great American Investments: A History of the Bold Initiatives That Shaped a Nation
Ellis, Charles D.
Hardcover
The Mismeasurement of America: How Outdated Government Statistics Mask the Economic Struggle of Everyday Americans
Ludwig, Gene
Hardcover
A Century of Plenty: A Story of Progress for Generations to Come
Canal, Marc
Bradley, Chris
Leung, Nick
Paperback
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World: 10th Anniversary Edition
Ferguson, Niall
Paperback
The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers
Heilbroner, Robert L.
Paperback