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American History - Ben > Economy (1945-75) > Flashcards

Economy (1945-75) Flashcards

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1
Q

5

Describe evidence for post-war prosperity (1945-60)

A
  • GDP in 1960 3x 1940 level
  • Per capita income at $1450, twice as high as GB
  • Urban Americans consumed 3k calories a day, twice that of Western Europe
  • Home ownership expanded from 55% (1950) to 62% (1960)
  • Federal Government spending in 1948 at $36.5bn, far exceeding pre-war level of $9.4bn
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2
Q

3

Describe evidence against post-war prosperity (1945-60)

A
  • Acute poverty in South where rented accomodation was more common
  • 1947, 33% US homes lacked running water
  • Federal spending stimulated by Korean War involvement and Cold War armaments
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3
Q

7

List the causes of the age of affluence

A
  • WW2
  • Consumerism
  • Cold War
  • Presidential policies
  • Investment in science and technology
  • Housing construction
  • baby boom
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4
Q

3

Describe how WW2 caused the age of affluence

A
  • Stimulated industries such as electronics, aircraft, chemicals, food processing, etc
  • Full and well-paid employment
  • Compared with rationing, destructive bombing and debt issues in Europe and Japan
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5
Q

3

Describe the causes of consumerism

A
  • by 1953, avg families annual income stood at $4k
  • Diposable income had grown by 17% from 1945-53
  • Advertising industry
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6
Q

6

Describe evidence of consumerism in the age of affuence

A
  • Rise in consumption of goods
  • Car industry
  • Labour-saving devices
  • By 1960, 87% Americans owned at least one TV
  • American Express (payment card specialists) founded 1958
  • rise in consumer credit debt
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7
Q

2

Describe the advertising industry in the age of affluence

A
  • Advertised household appliances
  • size of advertising industry grew from $6bn in 1950 to $13bn by 1963
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8
Q

3

Describe the rise in consumption of goods in the age of affluence

A
  • Early 1950s, US consumed 33% of all global goods and controlled 66% of total global productive capacity
  • e.g. 2bn hot dogs consumed in 1960
  • Consumer credit debt rose from $9bn (1946) to $56bn (1960) due to hire purchase agreements
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9
Q

5

Describe the growth of the car industry in the age of affluence

A
  • Sales rose from 69.5k in 1945 to 6.7m in 1950
  • 75% owned car by 1960
  • Industry dominated by Ford, General Motors and Chrystler
  • number of 2-car families doubled between 1951 and 1958
  • by 1958, more cars in LA than whole of Asia
  • 1961, 350 different models for sale
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10
Q

3

Describe labour saving devices

A
  • 1939-48, spending on housheold appliances rose 500%
  • By 1951, 90% of US families had a fridge and 75% had washing machines and telephones
  • Enabled greater female employment which grew for married women from 36% (1940) to 60% (1960)
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11
Q

1

Describe limits to consumerism in the age of affluence

A
  • Boom caused many to avoid consumption in anticipation of another depression/panic, which never happened
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12
Q

4

Describe how the Cold War caused the age of affluence

A
  • Bretton Woods Conference 1944 and Marshall Aid 1948 rebuilt European trade
  • Korean War spending reached $30bn annually by 1953, equivalent to 14% of GDP
  • By 1968, annual spending in Vietnam was $77.4bn
  • Caused growth in high-tech undustries e.g. Boeing
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13
Q

5

Describe how Presidential policies caused the age of affluence

A

Note: much of this is indicative of examples

  • GI Bill of Rights 1944
  • Truman’s Fair Deal - raised minimum wage, house building, expansion of social security
  • Ike - Interstate Highway
  • JFK - Public Works Act, Manpower Development and Training Act, Telstra Act
  • LBJ - ‘War on Poverty’ spending brought many out of poverty and into consumerist domain
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14
Q

3

Describe the GI Bill of Rights (1944)

A
  • Provided free training and higher education to veterans
  • Also allowed low interest rates for housing mortgages and business loans
  • Led to construction boom
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15
Q

5

Describe investment in science and technology in the age of affluence

A
  • Boom in chemical and plastics industry
  • Inventions such as solid-state resistor accelerated computer development
  • 1951, Stanford Industrial Park opened (now known as Silicon Valley)
  • Eisenhower used federal aid to fund subjects important to Cold War struggle (e.g. science or maths) which helped related industries
  • JFK increased NASA spending to get a ‘man on the moon’ which stimulated high-productivty growth
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16
Q

4

Describe housing construction in the age of affluence

A
  • 1945 to 1955, 15m homes built
  • Home ownership expanded from 50% (1945) to 62% (1960)
  • Number of people living in suburbs grew from 17% in 1920 to 33% by 1960
  • over 4k shopping malls in late 1950s compared with 8 in 1946
17
Q

4

Describe the baby boom in the age of affluence

A
  • 4m babies born each year 1954 to 1964
  • Population expanded: 151.7m in 1950 to 180.7m 1960
  • By 1964, only 40% of population has been born before 1946
  • encouraged by labour-saving devices and expanded home ownership
18
Q

2

Describe the effects of the baby boom

A
  • By 1957, nappies were $50m a year industry
  • stimulated higher production of children’s clothes and toys
19
Q

How much did personal consumption expenditure rise by from 1945-64?

A

42%

20
Q

3

Describe African Americans in the age of affluence

A
  • Many escaped poverty, yet still disporportionate
  • In 1947, 60% of black families lived below the poverty level compared with 23% of white families
  • by 1964, 23% of black families lived below the poverty level, compared with 9% of white families
21
Q

2

Describe the economic boom of 1968

A
  • Unemployment unusually low at 3.3% in Jan 1969
  • Yet inflation rising
22
Q

3

Describe the cause of economic issues by 1970

A
  • Natural economic cycle
  • Cold War and Vietnam War spending
  • Balance of payments deficit due to oil imports for industry
23
Q

2

Describe Nixon’s policy of ‘Gradualism’

A
  • Policy of monetary restraint to cool what advisors saw as overheating economy
  • Aimed to restrict growth of monetary supply that had facilitated economic boom in LBJ’s last year in office
24
Q

5

Describe the ‘Nixon Shock’ of 1971

A
  • August 1971, held meeting of economic advisors at Camp David to address looming crisis
  • Imposed freeze on wages and prices
  • Raised tariffs on all imports
  • Took US dollar off Gold Standard
  • Devalued dollar by allowing floating exchange rates
25
Q

2

Describe the positive impact of Nixon’s economic policy

A
  • Reassured Wall St of stability in short-term
  • US deficit relative to GDP fell to post-WW2 low of 24.6% in 1974
26
Q

4

Describe the negative impact of Nixon’s economic policy

A
  • End to Bretton Woods System and caused tension with OPEC and European allies
  • High inflation in all Western economes, including US
  • Helped provoke OPEC into sharp rise in oil price in 1973 (price of oil barrel quadrupled)
  • Caused staglation
27
Q

3

Describe stagflation in the 1970s

A
  • By early 1974, inflation at 12%
  • American industrial production decreased by 15%
  • By 1974, unemployment rose to 9%
  • Psychological effect of long petrol queues
28
Q

4

Describe the limits to economic growth and prosperity post-war

A
  • Significiant minority of Americans continued to live in poverty despite prosperity e.g. AA
  • Older generation did not benefit as much from post-war economic boom
  • 1960-61 recession forced JFK to promise to ‘get America moving again’
  • Stagflation in 1970s
29
Q

Consumer credit debt rose from (…) (1946) to (…) (1960) due to hire purchase agreements

A

$9bn
$56bn

American History - Ben (22 decks)

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