11-14-2016, 02:48 AM
The fed existed already, and could have refrained from raising discount rates. More speculatively, they could have aggressively added banks to the federal reserve system, and Hoover could have pushed legislation similar to the 1933 banking act. Deposit insurance would have helped a lot given the large number of banks that failed due to runs rather than to fundamental insolvency.
While FDR's policies were in general counterproductive, it's hard to argue that he didn't do something better than Hoover with respect to the money supply:
While FDR's policies were in general counterproductive, it's hard to argue that he didn't do something better than Hoover with respect to the money supply: