Modern Liberalism

Question 1

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

Answer 1

A federal law passed in 1933 in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The law offered farmers subsidies in exchange for limiting their production of certain crops. The subsidies were meant to limit overproduction so that crop prices could increase.

Question 2

Anti-Trust Acts

Answer 2

Laws that regulate the conduct and organization of business corporations and are generally intended to promote competition for the benefit of consumers.

Question 3

Bank of Canada

Answer 3

Canada’s central federally-owned bank to promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada.

Question 4

Bank Run

Answer 4

When many clients withdraw their money from a bank.

Question 5

Bear Market

Answer 5

In the Business Cycle (Boom&Bust), it’s the decline in the economy (bust).

Question 6

Bull Market

Answer 6

In the Business Cycle (Boom&Bust), it’s the incline in the economy (boom).

Question 7

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Answer 7

A New Deal program designed to relieve unemployment during the Great Depression by providing national environmental conservation work.

Question 8

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

Answer 8

A short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers.

Question 9

Clayton Act

Answer 9

It defines unethical business practices, such as price-fixing and monopolies, and upholds various rights of labor. (basically an antitrust act)

Question 10

Conglomerate

Answer 10

A multi-industry company. Multiple business under one corporate group.

Question 11

Corporation

Answer 11

An organization authorized by the state to act as a single entity and recognized as such in law for certain purposes.

Question 12

Deregulation

Answer 12

Reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry.

Question 13

Dividend

Answer 13

A distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders.

Question 14

Dust Bowls

Answer 14

A period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s.

Question 15

Economic Downturn

Answer 15

A general slowdown in economic activity over a sustained period of time. (recession/bear market)

Question 16

Elkins Act

Answer 16

The Act authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to impose heavy fines on railroads that offered rebates, and upon the shippers that accepted these rebates.

Question 17

Family Allowance

Answer 17

A monthly government payment to families with children to help cover the costs of child maintenance.

Question 18

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Answer 18

An independent agency created by the Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system. (US)

Question 19

Federal Reserve Bank

Answer 19

The central banking system of the USA. (There are 12 of these banks for regional purposes)

Question 20

Glass-Steagall Act

Answer 20

A 1933 law that separated investment banking from retail banking.

Question 21

Great Depression

Answer 21

The worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors.

Question 22

Hepburn Act

Answer 22

A 1906 United States federal law that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates and extended its jurisdiction. This led to the discontinuation of free passes to loyal shippers.

Question 23

Hooverville

Answer 23

A shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it.

Question 24

Interventionist

Answer 24

“governmental interference in economic affairs at home or in political affairs of another country.”

Question 25

Make-Work Project

Answer 25

A job that has less immediate financial or few benefit at all to the economy than the job costs to support. (busywork)

Question 26

Mixed Economy

Answer 26

A system that combines aspects of both capitalism and socialism. A mixed economic system protects private property and allows a level of economic freedom in the use of capital, but also allows for governments to interfere in economic activities in order to achieve social aims.

Question 27

Monopoly

Answer 27

A market structure characterized by a single seller, selling a unique product in the market.

Question 28

New Deal

Answer 28

A series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939.

Question 29

Padlock Law

Answer 29

A law in the province of Quebec, Canada that allowed the Attorney General of Quebec to close off access to property suspected of being used to propagate or disseminate communist propaganda.

Question 30

Plutocracy

Answer 30

A society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income.

Question 31

Progressivism

Answer 31

A political philosophy in support of social reform.

Question 32

Prohibition

Answer 32

A nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933. (US)

Question 33

Public Assistance

Answer 33

Social programs in the United States are programs designed to ensure that the basic needs of the American population are met. Federal and state social programs include cash assistance, health insurance, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and utilities subsidies, and education and childcare assistance.

Question 34

Public Works Administration (PWA)

Answer 34

A large-scale public works construction agency in the USA in Roosevelt’s New Deal response to the Great Depression.

Question 35

Recession

Answer 35

A business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending.

Question 36

Regulation (assumed economic regulation)

Answer 36

A method by which the government exercises control over the business cycle, through interest rates, government spending, and taxation.

Question 37

Relief (assumed economic relief)

Answer 37

Public or private aid to persons in economic need because of natural disasters, wars, economic upheaval, chronic unemployment, or other conditions that prevent self-sufficiency.

Question 38

Roaring Twenties

Answer 38

A decade of economic growth and widespread prosperity, driven by recovery from wartime devastation and deferred spending, a boom in construction, and the rapid growth of consumer goods such as automobiles and electricity.

Question 39

Robber Baron

Answer 39

A term used frequently in the 19th century during America’s Gilded Age to describe successful industrialists whose business practices were often considered ruthless or unethical.

Question 40

Scab/Strikebreaker

Answer 40

A person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired after or during the strike to keep the organization running.

Question 41

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Answer 41

A large independent agency of the United States federal government that was created following the stock market crash in the 1930s to protect investors and the national banking system. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market manipulation.

Question 42

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Answer 42

It was enacted in 1890 to curtail combinations of power that interfere with trade and reduce economic competition. It outlaws both formal cartels and attempts to monopolize any part of commerce in the United States.

Question 43

Social Security

Answer 43

A federal insurance program that provides benefits to retired people and those who are unemployed or disabled.

Question 44

Social Programs

Answer 44

Programs designed to ensure that the basic needs of the American population are met. Federal and state social programs include cash assistance, health insurance, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and utilities subsidies, and education and childcare assistance.

Question 45

“Square Deal”

Answer 45

Theodore Roosevelt’s domestic program, which reflected his three major goals: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection.

Question 46

Stock Market

Answer 46

The aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks, which represent ownership claims on businesses.

Question 47

Stocks

Answer 47

A security that represents the ownership of a fraction of a corporation. This entitles the owner of the stock to a proportion of the corporation’s assets and profits equal to how much stock they own. Units of stock are called “shares.”

Question 48

Subsidiary

Answer 48

A company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company, parent, or holding company. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases, it is a government or state-owned enterprise. (daughter company)

Question 49

Subsidy

Answer 49

A sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive.

Question 50

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Answer 50

A federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in 1933, to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.

Question 51

Welfare

Answer 51

Aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need.