Your goal for this project is to research the effects of the Great Depression on the world’s economy. Typically, when
looking at the Great Depression, the focus is on the effects of the United States, but as a leading economic power at the
time, the crashing of the American economy had a domino effect on other country’s economies. The scope of your project
will be to analyze not only the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) changes of China, the United Kingdom, and America itself
but also unemployment rates, national debt, and international trade. The last portion of your paper will be on how
America recovered from the Great Depression.
1) Introduction—Define what the Great Depression was, what triggered it, how long it lasted, and how the
economic concepts of inflation and stocks/bonds apply to what happened. Provide a brief overview of the
cascading effects the Great Depression caused beyond just the economic downfall. Research the societal changes
and any new laws or regulations that were passed to try to prevent the same event from happening again.
2) China and the Great Depression—When did the Chinese economy first feel the effects of the Americantriggered Great Depression? Include information on China’s change in GDP, unemployment rates, national debt,
and effects on its international trade (both import and export). Create an argument on the extent that the Great
Depression affected China (barely affected, moderately affected, or strongly affected) based on the change
in the numbers you found in your research.
3) The United Kingdom and the Great Depression—When did the British economy first feel the effects of the
American-triggered Great Depression? Include information on the United Kingdom’s change in GDP,
unemployment rates, national debt, and effects on its international trade (both import and export). Create an
argument on the extent that the Great Depression affected the United Kingdom (barely affected,
moderately affected, or strongly affected) based on the change in the numbers you found in your research.
4) America and the Great Depression—How was America affected by the Great Depression? Include information
on America’s change in GDP, unemployment rates, national debt, and effects on its international trade (both
import and export). When did America start to recover from the Great Depression, and what were the changes that
brought about this recovery? Cite specific programs, laws, individuals, executive orders, and so on that were
primarily responsible.
