Economics

President Hoover advocated for volunteerism where there was cooperation between the public and private sectors so as to help in economic recovery and achieve long-term growth. He tried to reduce government intervention as much as possible so as to promote self-reliance and individuality. Hoover did all this in the hope that the private sector would recover from the great depression on its own and hence the need for limited government intervention. As part of his belief in volunteerism, Hoover asked the major banks to form the National Credit Corporation that was meant to prevent the small banks from collapsing by providing loans to them. But this move did not help much as the major banks still remained reluctant to provide loans and would require collateral from the small banks.

Labor Policies
The labor policies that were adopted by Hoover to address the economic problems caused by the great depression included job sharing and wage control. The reason why he came up with these policies was that he believed that the great depression was a result of inequality in income and wealth distribution which had resulted to adverse consequences like the stock market crash. To achieve recovery from the great depression through the labor policies, he met the labor union leaders together with the industrialist and they negotiated a deal. The deal was that the labor unions would not go on strike and the industrialist agreed that they would not reduce the wages so that the country would recover from the great depression. As a result of this agreement, Davis-Bacon Act was signed into law by President Hoover. This Act required all the local governments to pay the wages set by labor unions for the public works projects. He also signed the Norris-LaGuard Act that required the courts not to issue injunctions against labor union strikes. However, this labor policies initiated by Hoover did not help in recovery from great depression and instead made the situation worse as the rate of unemployment was increasing reaching 16.   The rate of unemployment was growing because the labor policies kept the wages artificially high and hence limited employment opportunities.

Policies to Reduce Unemployment Rate
To address the growth in unemployment that was caused by great depression, the Mexican Repatriation program was authorized by President Hoover. The program involved a forced migration of both Mexicans and American Mexicans to Mexico so as to remove the people who were seen to be taking away American jobs and hence combat the rampant unemployment that was witnessed as a result of the great depression. This move led to migration of approximately 500,000 Mexicans and American Mexicans to Mexico.  

Policies to Raise Tariffs
In 1930 the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was approved by the Congress and in the same year Hoover signed the Act into law so as to help in raising tariffs on imported goods. Hoover raised the tariff on imported goods so as to increase their cost and hence encourage the purchase of American products. Raising tariffs was also aimed at protecting the local farmers and also raise the revenue for the federal government during the hard economic times of the great depression. However, this move made by Hoover to increase tariffs on imported goods did not help much toward economic recovery, because other nations in retaliation also increased tariffs on American goods and hence reduced international trade.