HISTORY
THE COLD WAR ERA
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Military spending lifted the nation out of the depression
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Loss of consumer spending led to a deepening of the depression
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Loss of jobs led to a continuation of the depression
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Women in the workplace led to an increase in consumer spending
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Detailed explanation-1: -World War II had a profound and multifaceted impact on the American economy. Most obviously, it lifted the nation out of the Great Depression of the 1930s. As late as 1940, unemployment stood at 14.6 percent; by 1944 it was down to a remarkable 1.2 percent, and the gross national product (GNP) had more than doubled.
Detailed explanation-2: -Mobilizing the economy for world war finally cured the depression. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and even larger numbers went to work in well-paying defense jobs. World War Two affected the world and the United States profoundly; it continues to influence us even today.
Detailed explanation-3: -The private economy boomed as the government sector stopped buying munitions and hiring soldiers. Factories that had once made bombs now made toasters, and toaster sales were rising. On paper, measured GDP did drop after the war: It was 13 percent lower in 1947 than in 1944.
Detailed explanation-4: -Wartime production had helped pull America’s economy out of depression, and from the late 1940s on, young adults saw a remarkable rise in their spending power. Jobs were plentiful, wages were higher, and because of the lack of consumer goods during the war, Americans were eager to spend.
Detailed explanation-5: -The U.S. economy faced one of the largest mobilizations in human history, as almost 20 million new jobs were created during the war. Combined with that, American industrial productivity almost doubled, while corporate profits after taxes did manage to grow by over 100 percent.