Are the causes of the stock market crash in 1929 similar to the recent crash in 2008?

Most of the stock values had merely tracked the rise in expected dividend payments. The economy was expanding rapidly and companies were enjoying this expansion. Those same companies that were enjoying these prosperous years had increased dividends and were expected to continue to do so.

Therefore, apart for the panic selling on those few days in October of 1929 that would cause sharp price declines in common stock, there was nothing unusual or "inflated" about stock prices in the days preceding or following the stock market crash of 1929.