Causes of The Post-War 1947 Economic Boom

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  • Created by: Jess
  • Created on: 03-05-14 15:35
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  • Causes of the 1947 economic boom
    • Baby Boom
      • Need more space
        • Growth of the suburbs
      • Link to housing boom
      • 1000s more births after WWII
      • Overcrowded universities in the 60s
      • More economic security
    • Consumer goods/ Advertising boom
      • TVs
        • 1946: 7000 TV's --> 1960: 50 million TV's
        • Advertising boom
          • Focus on the consumer
            • Market research
      • Cars
        • Helped other industries
          • Roads
          • Shops
          • Growth of the suburbs
          • Leather, glass etc
          • Drive-thru cinemas
          • Petrol
        • 67 million privately owned cars on the road in 1954
      • War was the foundation
        • $150 billion saved
        • Couldn't get the goods during the war
      • To fill houses
        • Link to housing boom
        • White goods
      • No longer a luxury but are a necessity
    • Housing boom
      • Only 180'000 built during the New Deal
        • Huge need for more houses
      • Growth of the suburbs
        • The suburban housewife
          • Doesn't work
          • Not good for women's rights
        • "The White Flight"
          • They were the ones that had the money
          • Not good for racism/ immigrants
          • Many were whites only
        • Leaving the inner cities
          • Bad schools, crime, cramped, unpleasant
          • Helped the motor industry
            • More people have cars so can live further away from the city
        • The Levitt House
          • Flatpacked
          • Helped lots of other industries in turn
            • Roads/ construction
            • Shops
            • Levitt's company
            • Cars
            • Workers to put the houses up
      • Cheap mortgages
        • Federal Mortgage Arrangement Act
    • Government policy
      • 1946 Employment Act
        • Truman's Commitment
        • Committed to assuring economic growth
      • Low Taxation
        • Like the 1920's Republican policy
        • $6 billion worth of tax cuts
      • 1944 Servicemen's Readjustment Act
        • Get veterans back into society/the economy
          • Helped them
            • Low/cheap mortgages
            • Gave them money to start businesses
            • Unemployment relief
            • Sent 2.3 million back to college
              • More educated workforce
              • Not unemployed
              • By 1950, half of all students were ex-veterans
        • Known as the "GI Bill of Rights"
          • Spent $16 billion on its veterans in total
          • "GI" = government issue
    • War
      • The Cold War
        • USA CONTINUES to spend heavily on the military
          • 10% of the GNP
          • Military bases set up in poor areas
            • Stimulates deprived areas
          • Weapons spending
        • Space race
        • Nuclear warfare
        • Marshall Plan
          • $13 billion of aid to all European countries
            • Sent in dollars so they had to trade with the US
              • Helps US businesses
          • Thought they would turn to extremism/ communism if they were not helped
      • WWII
        • Rearmament in 1938
        • Full employment by 1943
          • Gets them out of the Depression
        • They saved their money
          • $150billion saved during the war
          • No consumer goods to spend it on
            • Huge demand after 1945
          • Got their war bonds back with interest
        • USA leaves undamaged
          • Stronger trading position
            • Doesn't have to rebuild anything
        • Government spending
          • 4x spending of 1939 by 1941
          • 1942 military output was the same as Ger, It and *** together
            • Output had doubled
          • Statistics
            • 50 million tonnes of ammo...
        • War economy
    • Technological advances
      • Electronics
        • TVs
          • Cheaper
          • More bought
        • Silicon Valley
          • California/ Growth of the West
      • Employment
      • Link to consumer goods
    • The Post-War global economic order
      • USA was the economic superpower
        • No real rival until ***an in the 1970s
      • New economic system set up at the end of WWII by the USA
        • USA becomes the heart of it
        • Currencies pegged against the $ not the £
        • GATT - General Agreement on Trade and Tarrifs
          • US could really benefit
      • Established in Bretton Woods

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