The Evolution of Modern Economic Liberalism

Before spring break, we looked at both the pros and cons of capitalism and communism. But, like I said in class, there is no country that has used either one of these ideologies exactly the way in which the theory  said it should be used and the circumstances that it should be used in. Because of that, most economic systems and ideologies are actually a mixture (hence the term mixed economies) of aspects of capitalism and communism. A more right-wing economic system will have more aspects of capitalism - lower taxes, less government services, mostly if not all private property and a greater focus on self-reliance while following a free market. A more left-wing economic system will have more aspects that lead towards communism - higher taxes that are used to provide greater government services to give people a social safety net, public ownership of major industries and corporations, a focus on cooperation to ensure economic equality. As significant events happen in the economy affecting production of goods and service, as well as job security, governments make decisions on what is the course of action to take to solve the problem. Often, the decisions will be a departure from the current economic philosophy to something different only to find the shift back to the original view years later. The point is, as the economy changes, so do economic philosophies; this is why we call it the evolution of modern economic thought :)

One of the first steps in this evolution was the implementation of Welfare Capitalism and the Square Deal. This week, we will look at several other huge economic events and how they helped our economic theories evolve in North America.

So what will we be learning this week?

Monday:

• Shift from Welfare Capitalism to the Welfare State

How it started: The Roaring Twenties

• Notes: The Great Depression in the US

Tuesday: 

• Keynesian Economics - New Economic Theory

• Implementation of Keynesian Economics: FDR's New Deal

The New Deal

Wednesday:

• Expansion of Modern Liberalism - Social Awareness
• As economic liberalism evolved, so did people's desire to help those less fortunate than them
• This evolution spread into society in the hopes of protecting as many rights as possible
• Practice interpreting sources

Thursday: 

• Rants by Cheyenne and McKinley
• Practice writing paragraphs
• 30-1 - Assignment I - You choose to write 2 paragraphs. You can either write to interpretation paragraphs OR an interpretation and relationship paragraph
• 30-2 - Assignment I - One paragraph explaining one of the characteristics for the topic

Friday: 

• Changes that occurred after the Great Depression - Notes

• Canada's Economic System

• Social Programs
• Progressive Taxation