History 479

Devine

Fall 2005

FINAL EXAM STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What factors – political, economic, organizational, and ideological – kept the United States and the Roosevelt administration from launching an efficient, streamlined, long-range plan for mobilization in the months and years leading up to World War II?
2. Why could one argue that the New Dealers in the Roosevelt administration hindered the process of rearmament and mobilization for World War II? According to William O’Neill, why did they prefer a “politically correct” war effort than an efficient one?
3. According to Harold Vatter, what were the most significant wartime developments that had long-range effects on the U.S. economy?
4. How did the system of labor relations change in the US after World War II? How did the government’s role in mediating employer-employee disputes change after World War II?
5. What problems did the Marshall Plan propose to solve? What positive effects did it produce? Did it have any negative effects?
6. How did Eisenhower’s economic policies differ from Truman’s? How did his policies reflect the conservative view of the source of wealth and the need for stability of prices?
7. What were some of the major transformations in the US economy during the 1950s?
8. With regard to its effect on the economy and on everyday life, how was the interstate highway system of the 1950s similar to the railroad system of the 1880s? How was it different?
9. Why might “poverty in the midst of plenty” be an apt phrase to describe the social situation in the US during the 1950s? Why was persistent poverty not a widespread concern during the 1950s?
10. What were Alvin Hansen’s theories regarding the future of the U.S. economy? Why did events ultimately prove him wrong?
11. During the election of 1960, what criticisms did John F. Kennedy and the Democrats make of the Eisenhower administration’s economic policies? How did the emphasis of Eisenhower’s policies differ from the alternatives that Kennedy was proposing?
12. Once elected, what policies did Kennedy pursue to achieve his goal of significant economic growth?
13. How did the assumptions of “growth liberalism” help shape U.S. defense policy and foreign policy? (Flexible response, the escalation of the Vietnam war, etc.)
14. Why does Robert Collins argue that economics, moreso than the anti-war protests, played a more significant role in precipitating President Johnson’s decision to scale down U.S. involvement in Vietnam?
15. What factors led to the discrediting of “growth liberalism”?
16. What is the difference between fiscal and monetary policy?
17. How did Keynesians and monetarists differ regarding the role government should play in the economy?
18. Why did so much investment capital flow into the “go-go” stock market of the 1960s?
19. What did the Phillips curve suggest about the relationship between unemployment and inflation? How did economists explain this relationship?
20. According to Michael Harrington, why were the poor “invisible” – both physically and politically – during the 1950s?
21. Why are the “new poor” immune to, and even victims of, “progress”? Why might these people say, “Progress is misery”?
22. How does the poverty during the time Harrington is writing differ from the poverty of the Great Depression? According to Harrington, what is the difference between living in poverty and being impoverished?
23. According to John Andrew’s chapter “The War on Poverty,” what were some of the shortcomings of President Johnson’s job training and community action programs?
24. Despite their genuine commitment to eradicating poverty, why did the designers of the “War on Poverty” find it so difficult to achieve their goal? What factors kept anti-poverty programs from succeeding?
25. According to Allen Matusow’s chapter “Oil Shock,” how did political considerations (particularly the President’s re-election) influence the steps the Nixon administration took (or didn’t take) during the early 1970s to address the impending energy crisis?
26. Why did Nixon’s economic advisors believe that price controls were a bad idea in 1973? Why did they say such controls would “translate inflation into shortage”?
27. If the economy is producing at full capacity but demand still increases, what results inflation or deflation? Why?
28. What impact did increasing oil prices have on the US economy? Why did high oil prices limit economic growth?
29. Why did developing countries prefer loans from private banks to loans from international organizations like the IMF?
30. What were the pros and cons of the increase in government regulations during the 1970s?
31. Why did the Democrats want to increase federal spending during the mid-1970s? Why did President Ford want to hold the line or reduce federal spending?
32. What were the drawbacks of price controls on domestic oil? Why was the Carter administration reluctant to abandon such price controls?
33. Why would a “cheap” (or inflated) U.S. dollar help American manufacturers who exported their goods and products? What effect did a “cheap” dollar have on the trade deficit? What effect did a “cheap” dollar have on inflation within the U.S.?
34. How did deregulation help control inflation without increasing unemployment?
35. Why was increasing worker productivity seen as an effective way to control inflation?
36. What was “industrial policy”? What were its shortcomings as economic policy (both political and intellectual)?
37. Why, according to Bruce Schulman, was the great inflation of the 1970s “a transformative event?” (p. 131) What changes occurred? Why was inflation such a big deal?
38. How did inflation affect attitudes about credit, spending, and investing? How did it help to produce changes in the way people did their banking?
39. What was “stagflation” and why did it contradict conventional economic wisdom? Why did it prove so devastating for the economic position of the average American?
40. What role did broader social developments and changes in the economic structure play in widening the gap between rich and poor during the 1980s? What trends in particular were most significant?
41. What were the pros and cons of “downsizing” and corporate reorganization? According to Wells, how can a country “downsize” its way to prosperity?
42. What factors account for the booming stock and bond markets of the 1980s?
43. What is the difference between “import substitution” and “liberalization”? (Both are policies that developing nations pursued to improve their economic position.)
44. What caused the Savings & Loan crisis of the late 1980s?
45. What role did Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker play in fighting inflation after his appointment in 1979? What policies did he pursue? What were their effects?
46. According to Wells and Sloan, why did the economy begin to recover after 1982?
47. In what areas did the Reagan economic policies of the 1980s succeed and why? In what areas did they fail to achieve their goals and why?
48. According to Sloan, why Ronald Reagan an effective leader, despite his weaknesses?
49. We often speak of “meaningless luxury,” but in Living It Up, Twitchell argues that “the new luxury” is material that is “super-rich in meaning.” (p. 58) What does he mean by this?
50. What does Twitchell mean when he suggests that “luxury” is “socially constructed”?
51. According to Twitchell, why is advertising essential in a “luxury culture”? What role does advertising play in our culture?
52. According to Twitchell, how does our desire for “self-indulgence” lead us to “thank” the providers of luxury?
53. What factors contributed to the economic prosperity of the 1990s? To what extent was the prosperity due policies pursued by the Clinton administration and the Federal Reserve? To what extent was it due to structural changes in the economy beyond the control of the federal government?
54. What role did new information technology play in increasing worker productivity during the 1990s?
55. Why did President Clinton decide to abandon his plans for increased public investment and instead focus on reducing the deficit?
56. What were the arguments pro and con for globalization during the 1990s?