Question

How did the U.S. government respond to the challenges of the Great Depression and World War II with a more interventionist role in the economy and society? How did the messages of sacrifice, service, and community manifest during these two crises?

Answer 1

US economy has been a market based economy that demanded least intervention from the government, but the  great crises of great depression and WW-II  saw the economy and society to suffer from poor demand, lack of jobs and weak confidence in the economy from the side of investors and consumers. It led the US government to relinquish the Laissez-faire role as well as  Say's law and came with the bigger interventions in terms of fiscal policies and monetary policies by FED. It was the adoption of Keynes economic proposals that government should intervene to regulate and help economy grow. It created new jobs and unemployment decreased. People got income and their spending, further increased the demand. This was the way, people and women also joined the work force to make a robust labor market, with firms getting them at a right wage. It reduced the cost of production and supply also increased. It helped output to increase and economy grew. It all happened with the interventionist role of the government.

The underlying message of sacrifice, service and community welfare was inherited in supporting each other in difficult times and not getting too selfish at the end of consumers or firms during these crises. It led them to have patience and worked with each other with utilitarian perspective. It spread the welfare and economy survived even after the occurrence of these two crises.