I heard that France, during the Great Depression, had less hardships than other

Question:I remember my professor saying something about this back in my undergraduate years and the question resurfaced in my head.

I was told that France's economy was more resilient to bounce back from the economic hardship that is the Great Depression unlike other nations (especially Germany).

Was it that they were getting reparations from post-WWI treaties from Germany?

This is out of curiousity.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I remember my professor saying something about this back in my undergraduate years and the question resurfaced in my head.

I was told that France's economy was more resilient to bounce back from the economic hardship that is the Great Depression unlike other nations (especially Germany).

Was it that they were getting reparations from post-WWI treaties from Germany?

This is out of curiousity.

France did not have a stock market, so they were insulated from the financial pressures faced by the major financial centers of New York, London, and Amsterdam.

France has always been a liberal mecca of creativity, so they were somewhat insulated from the financial pressures created by the speculation and greed that caused America's Great Depression.

If you look back into history, you will find that America and the world suffered through much greater global depressions in the past, but because people were more tied to microeconomic factors (i.e. single farms) than macroeconomic factors (i.e. stock market, central banks), the effects of these recessions/depressions were not widely felt.

The overriding cause of the Depression, on an individual scale, had to do with urbanization, speculation, and employment, rather than self-sustaining trades or business ownership.

The move from rural to industrial society created the foundation for the mess.