All Year Bankruptcies

Timesizing® Associates
©1998,1999 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 622, Cambridge MA 02140 USA (617) 623-8080

American Bankruptcy Data from When They Started Collecting It

Industrial and Commercial Failures, 1871-1959
The figures go year by year across the chart - for example,
1870s|1870 |71 |72 |73 |74 |75 |76 |77 |78 |79.
2nd line (if any) is rate per 10,000 concerns in business for decade on line above.
2nd figure (italicized) indicates a new way of counting bankruptcies was introduced.

y0 y1 y2 y3 y4 y5 y6 y7 y8 y9

1870s gap 2915 4069 5153 5830 7740 9092 8872 10478 6658

1880s 4735 5582 6738 9184 10968 10637 9834 9634 10679 10882

1890s 10907 12273 10344 15242 13885 13197 15088 13351 12186 9337

1900s 10774 11002 11615 12069 12199 11520 10682 11725 15690 12924

1910s 12652 13441 15452 16037 18280 22156 16993 13855 9982 6451

1920s 8881 19652 23676 18718 20615 21214 21773 23146 23842 22909

1930s 26355 28285 31822 20307
19859 12091 12244 9607 9490 12836 11408
14768

(rate /10k) 122 133 154 103
100 61 62 48 46 61 54
70

1940s 13619 11848 9405 3221 1222 809 1129 3474 5250 9246

(rate) 63 55 45 16 7 4 5 14 20 34

1950s 9162 8058 7611 8862 11086 10969 12686 13739 14964 14053

(rate) 34 31 29 33 42 42 48 52 56 52

Source - various years of the Statistical Abstract of the United States.

Industrial and Commercial Failures, 1871-1959
The figures go year by year across the chart - for example,
**1870s**|1870 |71 |72 |73 |74 |75 |76 |77 |78 |79.
2nd line (if any) is rate per 10,000 concerns in business for decade on line above.
*2nd figure* (italicized) indicates a new way of counting bankruptcies was introduced.
	y0	y1	y2	y3	y4	y5	y6	y7	y8	y9
1870s	gap	2915	4069	5153	5830	7740	9092	8872	10478	6658
1880s	4735	5582	6738	9184	10968	10637	9834	9634	10679	10882
1890s	10907	12273	10344	15242	13885	13197	15088	13351	12186	9337
1900s	10774	11002	11615	12069	12199	11520	10682	11725	15690	12924
1910s	12652	13441	15452	16037	18280	22156	16993	13855	9982	6451
1920s	8881	19652	23676	18718	20615	21214	21773	23146	23842	22909
1930s	26355	28285	31822	20307 19859	12091	12244	9607	9490	12836	11408 14768
(rate /10k)	122	133	154	103 100	61	62	48	46	61	54 70
1940s	13619	11848	9405	3221	1222	809	1129	3474	5250	9246
(rate)	63	55	45	16	7	4	5	14	20	34
1950s	9162	8058	7611	8862	11086	10969	12686	13739	14964	14053
(rate)	34	31	29	33	42	42	48	52	56	52

Note the peak in 1915 before the US entered the Great War - could this reflect a goading factor?
Then there's a decline to less than a third from 1915 to 1919 as war and influenza sucked up the labor surplus, but then a meteoric near-quadrupling from 1919 to 1922 as the "boys came home" en masse from the War and tried to get jobs, thus depressing wages, spending, and markets.
There's a one-fifth downward correction in 1923 as new technology from wartime production seeps into civilian production and enjoys a fleeting curiosity factor from the consumer base. But then, as the technology's work-saving effects swamp piecemeal reductions in the workweek and shift decisively from work-saving to job-killing, consumer strength falters and there's a steady six-year rise to shatter the 1922 bankruptcy record in 1928, the year before the Crash.
1929 finds a small downward correction, less that a twentieth, as luxury markets take off, buoyed by the stock boom of astronomically concentrated wealth (hey, ordinary people weren't getting and it had to go somewhere, right?). But then, the stock boom falters too as people glimpse, through the fog of happytalk, the grotesque outlines of a gargantuan imbalance of productive over consumptive capacity, and the bankruptcies immediately start breaking records again every year till 1932. After that, there's a decline, possibly because, after all the business mergers in the Roaring '20s and early 1930s, there were fewer businesses left to declare bankruptcy.
Notice also how low bankruptcies went in the 1940s when, as in World War I, there was a low labor surplus due to World War II and a high spirit of cooperation due to a common external enemy, the Axis.

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