The stock market crash of 1929 offers parallels to the spiraling financial crisis of the 21st century, giving insight to measures that can help correct the collapse. Paul Solman talks to two authors on the Great Depression who assess the government's role and analyze policy choices.
PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour economics correspondent: 
At the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street, we sat down with Eugene White and author Amity Shlaes for a historical look at the Great Depression.
At the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street, we sat down with Eugene White and author Amity Shlaes for a historical look at the Great Depression.He's an economist who generally admires FDR's handling of the crisis. She's the author of "The Forgotten Man," critical of 1930s' government intervention.
Eugene White, Amity Shlaes, welcome.
1933, President Roosevelt is about to take office, depth of the Great Depression. Where do we seem to be with respect to that moment in history?
EUGENE WHITE, economist, Rutgers University: Well, if we compare the circumstances around it, it looks very scary, because there are a lot of similarities. Those include fallen asset markets, a collapse of the stock market, real estate markets, and a credit crunch, with a lot of banks going under.
If we say, "What's it going to look like when the new president takes office compared to when Roosevelt assumes office?" I think the circumstances are very different.
In 1933, there had been a great hesitancy from policymakers, from both the Fed and at the Treasury, to do much about it. And that was one of the things which had caused the depression to accelerate downwards.
The difference is today we've seen a lot of quick action by both the Fed and the Treasury to address a lot of these issues. So a lot of things which took a long time to happen afterwards, which were delayed in the 1930s, have already taken place, an easing particularly of the Fed and an increase in deficit spending.
The above article was quoted from CNN on Nov. 3. for the reference about financial crisis recently.
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