Notesale: Turn your study into money

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How far does the application of new technologies explain the economic boom of the 1920s?

The application of new technologies explains the economic boom of the 1920s to a certain extent
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Developments in industrial working practises can also be accredited, such as
assembly lines, as well as the transition of change after the election of the Republicans and the
presidencies of Coolidge and Harding
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Despite this, I believe that the biggest factor that can
be accredited to the economic boom of the 1920s is the impact of the First World War – due to America’s
late entry into the war they weren’t spending as much as they were receiving from other nations
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For one, new materials such as Bakelite were being developed
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Other technological discoveries within 1920s America include
the lie detector in 1921, as well as the self-winding watch by John Harwood in 1923, all of which could
promote consumer demand for these brand new objects
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As cars were becoming more and more
popular due to pioneers of the industry such as Henry Ford, other technological developments were
required to sustain it and meet the consumer demand
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More
roads were required in the 1920s as a means of fulfilling the increasing number of cars being attained;
there were 387000 miles of road in 1921, but this transgressed to 662000 miles by 1929
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Morgan), and the car radio (invented in 1929 by
Paul Galvin)
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While most of rural
America didn’t have electricity until the 1950s, in the few remote areas that did receive it, the prices
were almost double of that in suburban areas (by 1930, 85% of homes in cities had access to it)
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Among the consumer goods were
vacuum cleaners (30% of families in 1930 owned one), electric washing machines (24% of families owned
one in the 1920s) and electric refrigerators (8% of families owned one in this era)
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This supports my original statement in that
whilst new technology did contribute to the economy, this market perhaps wouldn’t have thrived so early
on without the war increasing the need for new gadgets
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Taylorism (also known as scientific management) was a principle which begun
development in the 1880s under Frederick Winslow Taylor
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The
key to this, he found, was to observe each individual component in a task and so, standards could be

made laying down the amount of time a task should take and how it should be performed
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Workers would remain in place adding
one component each to the automobile, which was strengthened with delivery by conveyor belt to keep
the system working smoothly
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This reiterates my point that although, similarly to new technologies, developments in industrial
working practices was a large factor in contributing to the economic boom of the 1920s, I still believe the
First World War was the biggest factor that can be accredited
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Harding landed himself in controversy through his appointment of his friends to his cabinet – whom were
considered less well-considered appointments, such as Albert Fall (jailed for a year due to involvement in
the Teapot Dome Scandal), and Charles Forbes (jailed for two years for defrauding the government)
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Firstly, he aimed to lower taxes after the war
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Mellon visualised the
maximum income tax rate as 25%; he achieved this through three cuts in the rate, succeeding in 1925
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The raising of these tariffs was met through the Emergency Tariff Act of 1921 and the FordneyMcCumber Tariff a year later, implementing the concept of protectionism, by which trade was restricted
from abroad to limit competition, to be symbolic of a business friendly administration
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This reinstates my original argument in that although Republican campaigns
certainly had a direct influence on the economy, they may not have been required had it been for the
First World War
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First and foremost, it stimulated demand for new products
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To buy a car outright with cash took
the average family roughly five years, but with using credit they could buy it immediately, increasing
overall demand and stimulating production
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Cinema and radio advertising could also have contributed
to the economic boom of the 1920s
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Since then, the popularity of the radio station grew immensely; by the end
of 1922 556 radio stations were being broadcast upon over 3 million radio sets
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W
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In 1920, the number of cinemas stood at 20000,
with the largest being the Roxy Theatre of New York which opened in 1927 with a capacity of 6200
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Aside

from emerging media outlets, catalogues and department stores also aided the growth of consumption
and thusly the economy
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By using
a catalogue, citizens were able to choose products in the comfort of their own home
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From this point onwards, there was a sharp increase in the number of department stores, and the
creative outlets they were taking advantage of in order to advertise their products
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This reiterates my point that although consumer credit and
consumption was a large factor in contributing to the economic boom of the 1920s, for it increased
demand and subsequently production rates, I still believe the First World War was the biggest factor in
doing so
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As far as lucrative trading is concerned, food exports
increased in this period by 300%, provoking not only an economic boom, but an agricultural one too
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2 billion in 1916
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Though America had sustained roughly $31 billion in war costs, this was redeemable
through the intense spending of other countries such as Britain (who spent £10 million a day) on war
materials, and nonetheless could be repaid through the use of loans
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Fuelling this was New York overtaking
London as the world’s financial capital
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By 1919, in fact, the USA’s foreign investments stood at $10 billion, this was a clever way of
promoting foreign relations, potentially improving immigration rates, and general trade by attracting
people to their country which presented itself through these figures as one of benevolence
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This supports my original statement that the
First World War was the biggest reason for the economic boom of the 1920s
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All in all, I believe that the First World War can be the biggest factor attributed to the economic boom of
the 1920s as it acted as a catalyst for all of the other aforementioned factors
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Overall however, I believe none of these factors would really have come into play without
the other, but the First World War, being the earliest historically of these factors, seemed to act as the
trigger for all of the others

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