Depressions are characterized by their length, by abnormally large increases in unemployment, falls in the availability of credit (often due to some form of banking or financial crisis), shrinking output as buyers dry up and suppliers cut back on production and investment, more bankruptcies including sovereign debt
<h2><em>Trade Trade was important to early civilizations because people found that they could not produce all the resources that they needed or wanted. ... Long-distance trade developed to supply societies with raw materials that they needed and luxury goods people wanted.
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