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New Deal

The New Deal was the name of President Franklin Roosevelt's legislative agenda for rescuing the United States from the Great Depression. It was widely believed that the depression was caused by the inherent instability of the market and that government intervention was necessary to rationalize and stabilize the economy.

The New Deal consisted of large scale government financed building and infrastructure projects, such as road building which were designed to relieve unemployment and provide a boost to the economy.

The New Deal was loosely based upon an economic theory called Keynesianism. Which believes that in times of ressession, governments should try to stimulate the economy by creating employment, which Keynesianism believes creates a "multiplier effect" whereby newly employed people spend money thus further stimulating economic growth.

Those who distrust markets argue that the New Deal was the right approach to the problem.

Those who favor markets argue that the depression was both caused by and continued by government intervention in the market.

Regardless, the New Deal successfully reduced unemployment from 15 million in 1933 to 9 million in 1938, and also boosted America's GDP. Versions of the New Deal were also successfully tried in other countries such as Sweden during the 1930s.

The New Deal was composed of a countless number of programs, called an "alphabet soup" by its distractors. Among the New Deal acts were the following, most of which were passed within the first 100 days of his administration:



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