Macroeconomics History Dates

Gold Standard

1819 - 1914

Financial Crisis of 1907 in US (sparked the establishment of the Fed)

1907

Founding of the US Federal Reserve System (the Fed) by the Federal Reserve Act

1913

World War I (WWI) (abandonment of gold standard)

1914 - 1918

Interwar Period (countries attempt to return to gold standard)

1918 - 1939

The Stock Market Crash of 1929

1929

The Great Depression (roughly) (gold standard abandoned again)`

1929 - 1939

World War II

1939-1945

The Bretton Woods Conference set up the postwar fixed exchange rate system. (Bretton Woods System of fixed exchange rates: 1945 - 1973)

1944

The Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union

1945 - 1991

Employment Act of 1946: Council of Economic Advisors, full employment goal

1946

Korean War 

1950 - 1953

Vietnam War (Gulf of Tonkin incident, 1964)

1961 - 1973

The Fall of the Bretton Woods System due to speculation against US dollar.

1973

The First Oil Shock

1973 - 1974

The Second Oil Shock

1979 - 1980

Latin American Debt Crisis (“The Lost Decade”)

1982 - 1990s

Saving and Loan Crisis

1989

The Persian Gulf War with Iraq

1990 - 1991

Asian Currency Crisis

1997 - 1998

9/11 New York City World Trade Center terroist attack

2001

The Afghanistan War

2001 - 2021

The Euro: The start of the circulation of the ‘Euro’ currency in the Euro Zone.

2002 

The Iraq War

2003 - 2011

Subprime Mortgage Crisis and Consequent Great Recession

2007 - 2009

COVID Crisis and Recession

2020 - 2022

Russian Invasion of Ukraine 

2022 - ?

Hamas attack on Israel, potentially starting another war in the Middle East

2023 - ?