The monetary view of the 1929 market crash and subsequent Great Depression developed by Milton Friedman is likely the most well-known and widely held view. Their theory states that the financial collapse was primarily due to monetary forces which were controlled by the central bank. This Monetarist view attaches a great deal of responsibility to the Federal Reserve of the United States for their role in regulating monetary policy leading up to the crisis9. A tightening of this supply beginning in 1929 has been tied to a decrease of M1 in circulation. In his Monetary History of the United States, Friedman argues that as wages went down, so did the level of consumption as individuals held on to their resources. This decrease in the money supply
