The Forgotten Man Amity Shlaes

shlaes speaking @ 2017 conservative political action conference

shlaes s next book, forgotten man: new history of great depression, published in 2007 , study of great depression in united states , new deal. book argues both presidents herbert hoover , franklin delano roosevelt promoted economic policies counterproductive, prolonged great depression, , established modern entitlement trap. forgotten man new york times bestseller 19 weeks, on 250,000 copies in print. has been published in german, italian, korean, chinese (mandarin) , japanese.

economist paul krugman has criticized forgotten man, taking issue central tenet new deal policies exacerbated great depression. krugman wrote of whole intellectual industry, operating out of right-wing think tanks, devoted propagating idea fdr made depression worse.... definitive study of fiscal policy in 1930s, mit economist e. cary brown, reached different conclusion: fiscal stimulus unsuccessful not because not work, because not tried . krugman accused shlaes of disseminating misleading statistics. shlaes responded krugman in wall street journal, saying estimates of employment , unemployment during period used lebergott/bureau of labor statistics series. wrote statistician stanley lebergott intentionally did not include temporary jobs in emergency programs—because count short-term, make-work project real job mask anxiety of 1 didn t have regular work long-term prospects.

shlaes went on if obama administration proposes f.d.r.-style recovery programs, useful establish whether original programs brought recovery. answer is, didn t.

writing in forbes, hudson institute fellow diana furchtgott-roth first lays out shlaes s view: points out federal spending during new deal did not restore economic health. unemployment stayed high , dow jones industrial average stayed low. after explaining krugman s position new deal failed spend enough money achieve full employment, furchtgott-roth concludes, new president needs listen many voices.

journalist jonathan chait has called book self-contradictory, misleading, , inaccurate. novelist , essayist john updike criticized book revisionist history of depression .