Economics in a Brave New World
“The roaring twenties.”, “The Jazz Age”, or more aptly named “The Golden Age Twenties”, was the economical boom following World War I. This later on led to the beginning of a global Great Depression in the early 1930s. During this time Aldous Huxley lived in England, and was influenced by new economic- and technological ideas as he published his book Brave New World. There are many reasons why the economical boom and the Great Depression affected the novel and its themes.
The economical boom happened a decade after World War I and was where an upsurge of consumerism brought great economic growth, which started in the 1920s. People bought new goods like automobiles and electrical devices that were mass produced to supply the demand for these new products. Also urbanization and new infrastructure helped boost the economy. Especially the United States benefited greatly from this time period and became the richest country in the world. The main reason for this was because America started capturing markets that had been before bought from Europe. Subsequently, the United States could provide loans also for an European economic boom.
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This was caused by the American stock market crash in 1929. This caused banks to close down, people’s savings to wipe out and also resulted in a high level of unemployment. This was caused by a sudden stop in consumerist tendencies. This was devastating because the suppliers had expected the same amount of demand and therefore had continued mass production of goods. This devastating collapse in the economy was a historical event and could be seen all over the world. The Great Depression was also seen in Great Britain where Aldous Huxley lived when he wrote Brave New World in