The prolonged economic downturn that followed the Panic of 1873 in the United States is called the Long Depression.
The Long Depression began after financial crises in Europe and North America in 1873. In the United States, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company helped trigger a financial panic, followed by a severe contraction and a major decline in railroad investment. The New York Stock Exchange temporarily closed during the panic.
The downturn lasted for years, although its timing and severity varied by country. In the United States, historians commonly describe an extended period of weak prices, industrial distress, labor conflict, and high unemployment. The phrase “Long Depression” distinguishes this era from the later Great Depression of the 1930s.
The term can cause confusion because economic historians debate the exact dates and whether the United States experienced continuous contraction throughout the entire period. Most accounts nevertheless use Long Depression for the extended nineteenth-century downturn, while “Panic of 1873” refers more specifically to the financial crisis that helped begin it.