02 / prediction

15 Oct 2025

If Roosevelt had spent a lot more — whatever you think about fiscal stimulus — if he’d done that instead of the things he and the other New Dealers actually did, there’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been better, because pouring more money into the economy may have adverse consequences, but nothing like some of the scary reforms, highly regressive taxes, price controls, and that sort of thing had.

“If Roosevelt had spent a lot more — whatever you think about fiscal stimulus — if he’d done that instead of the things he and the other New Dealers actually did, there’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been better, because pouring more money into the economy may have adverse consequences, but nothing like some of the scary reforms, highly regressive taxes, price controls, and that sort of thing had.”

Speaker: George Selgin
Episode: George Selgin on the New Deal, Regime Uncertainty, and What Really Ended the Great Depression
Publisher: Conversations with Tyler

George Selgin

What George said.

Of course, the counterfactual here is raw because we don’t know who would have been elected.