Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“If one has any awareness of the Panic of 1837 at all, one has likely been treated to the conventional story, wherein—as usual—the economic crisis and ensuing depression were supposedly caused by a lack of sufficient government regulation. In this case, the blame falls largely on Andrew Jackson and his destruction of the Second Bank of the United States. … the traditional anti-Jackson narrative remains influential in popular accounts of the period. However, an Austrian examination of the crisis raises important questions about the role of government intervention, banking privileges, and the credit expansion that preceded the panic.” (10/23/26)