[itsahoot]

Now, now, remember Smoot-Hawley

[Will88]

It was Friedman's study of monetary policy that led him to conclude that the Fed's allowing the money supply to shrink by 30% in the three years following the stock market crash of 1929 caused the Great Depression. Little or nothing to say about Smoot-Hawley.

The Great Depression According to Milton Friedman

Thus the Fed’s failure in the early ’30s shows the dangers of excessive centralization of important market functions that were previously dispersed among multiple private institutions. Friedman’s bottom line remains intact: The Fed caused the Great Depression.

The above refers to the fact that, prior to the Fed, large banks teamed together to provide the liquidity necessary to avoid a monetary crisis.