Reading Questions - Chapter 22 Flashcards
What percentage of American families had inside flush toilets in 1920? What percentage in 1930? What is the point of looking at such things?
- 1920, 20%
- 1930, 51%
- modern American standard of living available to larger segments of the middle class.
Economic historian Martha Olney drew attention to _____ to help explain the rise in the purchase of consumer durables in the 1920s.
development of consumer credit, and finance companies for middle suppliers.
To what factors do Goldin and Katz attribute “the High School Movement?”
Extremely high rate of return for graduating high school was recognized by taxpayers, who voted for such institutions for their children’s futures.
How does the text explain the decline in labor union membership between 1920 and 1923?
- high unemployment from sharp recession in 1921-22.
- new legislation allowing workers to get proper compensation for being injured on the job.
Who was Charles Ponzi?
Promised 50% return in 45 days because of Italian postage, and fault in the exchange system. He took money from new investors, and gave it to his original investors to pay off the promised rate.
What was the Marx brothers’ movie Cocoanuts about?
The Florida Land Boom was a bubble created in part by the easier means of travel by automobiles and the profitability of land and construction. Soon overcrowding lowered the worth (as seen by rail embargo). And Hurricane of September 1926, killed the Florida Land Boom.
What is a call loan? What conclusion about the call loan market did Eugene White draw from the movement of call loan rates in the late 1920s?
Call loans were loans made to brokers that could be called for repayment at anytime.
What did the economist Irving Fisher say about the stock market in 1929? What did he say about the song “Yes, we have no bananas”?
- He said the stock market would reach a permanently high plateau with a a possible recession but no crash.
- Yes if the question was “Have you no bananas?”
What effect did Prohibition have on the consumption of alcohol?
Reduced alcohol consumption by 60-70%.
