Recession cycles are thought to be a normal part of living in a world of inexact balances between supply and demand. That turns a usually mild and short recession or "ordinary" business cycle into a great depression is a subject of debate and concern. Scholars have not agreed on the exact causes and their relative importance. The search for causes is closely connected to the question of how to avoid a future depression. Not exacerbate widespread bank failures and the resulting panics and reduction in the money supply. It was mostly a failure of the free markets or a failure of government that expounded the problem.
It is the worst economic slumps that have spread all over the industrialized world. It began in late 1929 and end around 1939.

Many people lost their money. Business owners lost their businesses and they were forced to sell their property for money to support their families. Others lost their job and were left with only their personal possessions and the money that they had saved. They would do anything for money.