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Democracies in Change - America > Theme 4.1 - Economic transformation > Flashcards

Theme 4.1 - Economic transformation Flashcards

1
Q

What are some examples of how the economy changed/ there was prosperity?

A
  • 8 million veterans given grants- GI Bill
  • USA= richest country in world.
  • Car ownership increased massively.
  • People moved from urban centres into suburbs- where new homes = more affordable.
  • Levitt houses.
  • Post-war baby boom
  • Growth of employment opportunities.
  • Optimism & strong belief USA had ideal family.
  • Development of the nuclear family.
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2
Q

Post- war prosperity

What happened to the GNP since 1941?

A

GNP had risen 35% since 1941.

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3
Q

Post- war prosperity

What percentage of the population did the USA have?

What percentage of the global income did the USA have?

A
  • 7% of worlds population.
  • Posessed 42% of global income.
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4
Q

Post- war prosperity

What was the income per capita?

What was this compared to GB?

A

$1450

Almost twice as high as GB.

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5
Q

Post- war prosperity

How many calories did Americans consume per day?

How does this compare to people in Western Europe?

A

3,000 calories a day.

50% more than most people in Western Europe.

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6
Q

Post- war prosperity

  • What happened to federal government spending in 1948 & how did this compare to previous years?
  • Why was this figure going to increase further in the 1950s?
  • What did states spend more money on?
A

Spent more:

$36.5 billion (1948) - significantly less than $92.2 billion (1945).

  • Figure would rise significantly- Koren War & defence budget in the 1950s.
  • States- spent more money on roads & schools.
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7
Q

Post- war prosperity

Economic expansion created greater employment opportunities in what industies?

A

Aircraft production, chemicals & electrical goods.

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8
Q

Post- war prosperity

As consumer tastes changed- who made huge gains?

A
  • Processed food production.
  • Tobacco companies made vast profits & employed more people.
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9
Q

Post- war prosperity

What was made apparent by the late 1940s?

A

That the prosperity was going to last- then the consumer boom gathered.

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10
Q

Post- war prosperity

Did all areas become more prosperous?

A

No!

These areas were mainly in the South- in the poorer areas of cities.

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11
Q

Post- war prosperity

In 1947- what % of homes lacked running water & what percentage couldn’t flush toilets?

A
  • 33% lacked running water.
  • 40% can’t flush toilets.
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12
Q

Post- war prosperity

Where did most families live?

A

Most lived in rented accomodation and could hardly imagine owning their own property.

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13
Q

Post- war prosperity

What happened to home ownership between 1950-1960?

A

1950 (55%)

1960 (62%)

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14
Q

What did the GI Bill of Rights do?

How many people benefitted from it?

A
  • It offered grants to veterans to improve their education, learn new skills or set up businesses.
  • 8 million veterans took advantage of the measure!
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15
Q

When was the GI Bill of Rights set up?

A

1944

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16
Q

GI Bill of Rights

How much were the veterans meant to recieve per week while looking for work?

How much of the money set aside for it was actually distributed & why was this?

A

$20

Less than 20% because so many jobs were available for returning veterans.

17
Q

GI Bill of Rights

What happened to the universities & Home loans?

A
  • Universities expanded considerably to accept former servicemen- whose fees were paid by the government.
  • University of Syracuse - trebled its number of students.
  • Offered low-interest home loans that allowed ex-servicemen & their families to move to new houses in the suburbs.
18
Q

Increasing Mobility

What did the growth in the car industry lead to and mean for many Americans?

A

Led to much greater mobility & development of suburbs.

Meant Americans no longer needed to live in crowded towns & cities.

19
Q

How did the Home become important for Americans?

A
  • Important in terms of privacy & offering a comfortable lifestyle.
  • It came to symbolise the prosperity of ordinary people because they were owner- occupiers.
  • When mortgage was paid off- property would be theirs.
  • They weren’t spending wages on rent but investing in a house.
20
Q

The Growth of the car industry

What happened to the sales of cars between 1945-1950?

A

1945: 69,500
1950: 6.7 million.

21
Q

The growth of the car industry

What was the car industry dominated by?

What did cars symbolize?

A
  • ‘Big Three’ - Ford, General Motors, Chrysler
  • Symbolize- confidence of the age- they were sleek, ‘gas-guzzling’, big and colourful.
22
Q

The growth of the car industry

In 1958- What model of car did Ford produce?

In 1961- how many models of car were on sale?

A

5.79 metre long Lincoln Model.

1961- 350 different models on sale.

23
Q

The growth of the car industry

How much did a new Chrysler cost?

What happened to the number of two-car families between 1951 & 1958?

A
  • $1,300 or about 40% of the average family income.
  • Doubled!
  • (More can in LA than whole of Asia & General Motors was wealthier than Belgium in terms of GDP)*
24
Q

The growth of the car industry

What did the growth of car ownership help to develop?

When was the first Holiday Inn set up?

A

Facilities associated with them such as roadside hotels, motels, gas stations & garages.

1952

25
Q

When was the first McDonalds set up?

By what year were there 228 McDonalds?

What were the annual sales?

A

April 1955

1960

$37 million

26
Q

How was road building given a major boost in 1956?

A
  • 1956 Interstate Highway Act- boosted federal subsidies for road building & developed the infrastructure of US highways.
  • Created a 41,000 mile system, mainly of dual carriageway , designed to eliminiate unsafe roads, bottlenecks & other factors that impeded free traffic movement.
27
Q

What was the 1956 Interstate Highway Act intended to do?

What did road building developments signify the demise of?

A

Create a ‘national system of interstate and defence highways’ to facilitate speedy evacuation in the event of a nuclear attack.

Signify the demise of public transport in the USA. Passanger services on railroads lost an average $700 million per year by the mid-1950s ( partly due to growth of long-distance air travel)

28
Q

The growth of suburbs

In 1944- how many new family homes were built?

How did this change by 1950?

How did the % of Americans owning their own homes change from 1945-1960?

A

1944 - 114,000 new family homes were built.

Rose to 1.7 million.

It rose from 50% to 60%

29
Q

The growth of suburbs

What happened to the % of people living in suburbs from 1920-1960?

Why did people complain about suburbs?

A

Grew from 17% (1920) to 33% ( 1960)

  • Suburbs lacked variety.
  • Cinema & restaurant managers complained of a lack of business- as people stayed at home.
  • Conditions deteriorated in residential inner-city areas- as left to poor- often members of ethnic minorities & lost funding to the ‘flight of the middle classes’ - who would have paid taxes to love there.
30
Q

The growth of suburbs

What did the suburbs see the development of?

A

New facilities- e.g. shopping mall.

1946- 8 shopping malls.

Over 4000 shopping malls- late 1950s.

Increased prosperity & car ownership.

31
Q

The consumer society

How were wages effected by the consumer boom?

A
  • Rose
  • Average $4,011
  • Disposable income rose 17%
32
Q

How much was the advertising industry worth?

A
  • $6 billion in 1950
  • $13 billion by 1963
33
Q

How many TVs were there in America by 1960?

A
  • 50 million
34
Q

How did the baby boom improve the American economy?

A
  • Nappy industry
  • 1957 - $50 million per year
  • 4 million born every year
35
Q

How was divorce rate effected by the post war consumer boom?

A
  • Golden age for the American Nuclear Family
  • Rate fell 17.9% per 1000 in 1946
  • To 9.6% by 1953
  • Average age fell in married females - 21.5 years in 1940 to 20.1 years by 1956
  • Within 7 months of marriage most women pregnant.
36
Q

Give a reason for the rise in leisure time

A
  • Filling homes with labour saving devices and white goods.
  • 1951 - 90% of families had a fridge.
  • 1951 - 75% washing machine and telephones
  • Impacted the amount of debt - rose $5.7 billion in 1945 to $56.1 billion in 1960.
  • American Express started in 1958
  • Diner’s club card start in 1950 and become plastic in 1955
37
Q

Give key examples of the rise in consumption in the post-war prosperity

A
  • 33% world goods consumed
  • Controlled 66% worlds productive capcity
  • Hot dog consumption - 750 million in 1950 to 2 billion by 1960
  • Weekly budget $25

Democracies in Change - America (16 decks)

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