This work investigates how the rigid adherence to the gold standard served as the primary catalyst for the depth and duration of the Great Depression. Barry J. Eichengreen, a prominent economic historian, utilizes a synthesis of archival data and macroeconomic theory to argue that the international monetary framework of the interwar period prevented nations from implementing necessary counter-cyclical policies. By examining the structural imbalances left by World War I, he demonstrates that the gold standard acted as a constraint that propagated financial instability across global markets.

Economists and historians widely regard this text as a foundational analysis of interwar monetary policy. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous framework for understanding the systemic failures of the global financial order during the 1930s.