i'm david schoumacher.se computer tapes at the bureau of economic analysis in washington document 50 years of america's economic growth. they provide access to the accounting system known as gnp. when the united states faced its worst economic crisis, the great depression, no such measuring tool existed, until this report went to the senate. copies of national income, 1929-1932 are scarce today, but back in 1934, it was very popular. 4,500 copies were sold in 8 months. the report was made by a team from the department of commerce when congress demanded more information. what was the great depression costing the american economy? led in part by the auto industry, the economy grew rapidly in the 1920s, generating more jobs, more income, and more free time. as long as the factories were humming, there was little concern about how well the nation was doing economically. but when the bottom dropped out in 1929, congress wanted to find out how bad things actually were. as lawmakers passed new deal programs to end

this is david schoumacher.aptioning made possible by the annenberg/cpb project captioning performed by the national captioning institute, inc. captions copyright 1986 educational fi center annenberg media ♪ for information about this and other annenberg media programs call 1-800-learner and visit us at www.learner.org.