consumer economy quiz Flashcards
increased spending + larger profits for businesses = ?
bigger wages
what are the factors that fuel the consumer economy
- higher wages
- new products
- clever advertising
- lower costs
- widespread availability of credit
in 1920 - 1929 americans owned..
40% of world’s wealth
the average annual income rose
35%
example of the new products
the automobile
- built up cities, liberated isolated rural family
- model T - by Henry Ford
- assembling line
- automobile making became nation’s biggest single manufacturing industry
manufacturing process in which each worker does one specialized task in the construction of the final product
assembly line
the more products made, the…
less each one costs
clever advertising…
ad agencies hired psychologists to study how to appeal to people’s desire for youthfulness, beauty, health, and wealth
buying on credit
- most americans paid cash for everything
- expensive things were paid for with installment plans
customers make partial payments over a period of time until debt is paid
installment plan
what did the installment plans do
fueled the growth of consumer spending
clever advertising did what
made installment plan acceptable to public
economic danger signs
- uneven prosperity
- personal debt
- playing the stock market
- too many goods, too little demand
uneven prosperity?
mainly the rich that got richer
-government tax policy contributed to imbalance
personal debt?
- installment plans and buying on credit became customary
- spending beyond means
playing the stock market?
- speculation : making high - risk investments in hopes of getting a huge return
- buying on margin
allowed investors to purchase a stock for only a fraction of its price and borrow the rest
buying on margin
too many goods, too little demand
country’s warehouses were overstocked
consumers could not afford to buy goods as fast as assembly line turned them out
an average of stock prices of major industries
Dow Jones Industrial Average
what is a stock?
- putting your money directly into a company
- you own a stake in the company, called a “share”
- value of your share changes as stock market changes
Stock Markets peak?
sept 3
company’s earning and assets
real value - prices rose above their real value
black Thursday date?
Oct 23