WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Supplies such as gasoline, butter, sugar and canned milk were rationed because they needed to be diverted to the war effort. War also disrupted trade, limiting the availability of some goods.

Detailed explanation-2: -As millions of men and women entered the service and production boomed, unemployment virtually disappeared. The need for labor opened up new opportunities for women and African Americans and other minorities. Millions of Americans left home to take jobs in war plants that sprang up around the nation.

Detailed explanation-3: -During the war 17 million new civilian jobs were created, industrial productivity increased by 96 percent, and corporate profits after taxes doubled. The government expenditures helped bring about the business recovery that had eluded the New Deal.

Detailed explanation-4: -Rationing can artificially depress the price by putting constraints on demand. Alternatively, price ceilings can be imposed; they risk the need for rationing in order to maintain a certain level of supply. In any case, rationing generally results in shortages.

Detailed explanation-5: -During the war everything seemed to be rationed or in short supply: gasoline and fuel oil and rubber; bobby pins and zippers and tin foil; shoes and whiskey and chewing gum; butter and coffee and nylons and tomato ketchup and sugar; canned goods and cigarettes and the matches needed to light them.