Questions of the Day
1930s: The Challenger

1. What is Roosevelt referring to in his inaugural speech when he says:  "I shall... wage war against the emergency as great as the power that should be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe."

2. What is a Hooverville and what is the relationship between it and Keynes' statement: "In the long run we are all dead?"

3.  What is the relationship between the concepts of the multiplier and crowding out?

4. Most states are actively involved in attracting firms to create jobs through the multiplier effect.  In the late 1990s Rhode Island was successful in convincing Fidelity, a large, successful financial company, to locate one of their facilities in the state.  How would the multiplier differ if the firm located its plant in Texas.  Would the multiplier be bigger in Texas or Rhode island? 

5. What would you do if you were an advisor to the President and the economy took a nose-dive with unemployment running at 25 percent of the labor force, investment spending down over fifty percent, and people moving away from the cities to try to make a go of it by moving back to the farms. Would you attempt to balance the government budget?