"So, all you've shown is that Free Markets are more prone to Depressions, but what about unemployment rates?"
So, this also hurts me to post, but here is a graph of unemployment rates from 1890 until 2010. I checked the information at the source, and it seems to check out. If you want to check out the information, you can refer to it's sources. Now, unfortunately, there is no technical term in Economics to refer to a period of high unemployment. So, I'm going to make up my own, just for this case. I'll say hue (get it?). So, here's the thing: this graph starts in 1890. I do not consider that enough to make a good comparison, and the Great Depression can significantly distort the image. So, I'm going to deal with the period from 1890 to 1913 and 1946 to 1969 and 1983 to 2006. 1946 was chosen because it's after the unemployment restabilized, and I added 23 years after (the amount of time between the start of my data and the creation of the Fed). 1983 to 2006 is another 23 years, this time at the end of the current generation. This is no where near a perfect way to compare this data, and I'd greatly appreciate someone sending me earlier data (which I doubt exists).
1890-1913:
High Points: 1894 and 1896, at about 13%.
Low Points: 1908, at about 4%
Average: 6.87%
Time Spent Above 5%: 16 years
Time Spent Above 7%: 10 years
1946 -1969:
High Points: 1958 at 6.8%
Low Points: 1953 at 2.9%
Average: 4.57%
Time Spent Above 5%: 9 years
Time Spent Above 7%: 0 years (however 2 years were close with 6.7 and 6.8%)
1983 to 2006:
High Points: 1983 at 9.6%
Low Points: 2000 at 4%
Average: 6.15%
Time Spent Above 5%: 17 years
Time Spent Above 7%: 5 years.
The numbers should speak for themselves.
