The National Recovery Administration

Barbara Alexander

Economic History
Welfare Economics: Allocative Efficiency, Externalities, Fairness, Altruism
Law and Economics
Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
Distribution: Income, Wealth, Other

Article

This article outlines the history of the National Recovery Administration, one of the most important and controversial agencies in Roosevelt's New Deal. It discusses the agency's "codes of fair competition" under which antitrust law exemptions could be granted in exchange for adoption of minimum wages, problems some industries encountered in their subsequent attempts to fix prices under the codes, and the macroeconomic effects of the program.