ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by radio waves,

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a friendly hello to faraway friends.

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[ sings note ] Yeah, like that. All right.

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What shift in the United States economy is represented by the image?

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And we promise to not sing anymore in this video.

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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All right. At first the Industrial Revolution affected the production

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of practical goods like clothing and machinery.

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But technological advancements tend to have a ripple effect.

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So let's see which answer best describes

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the economic echo revealed in this ad for radios.

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Was the shift in the United States economy

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represented by the image A -

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a larger focus on the service industry? Hmm.

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Well, the caption for the image says it's from the 1920s,

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and a growing service industry as well as

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increased competition between businesses didn't really take

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form until after World War II.

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That's like mid/late 40s.

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So that knocks out A and B.

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Does this ad for radios reveal

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D - the need for businesses to be open longer hours?

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Well, they must have beamed this one in from outer space,

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because it's far, far away from the right answer.

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Which means that the shift in the U.S. economy

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revealed by the image is C -

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a move toward the production of consumer goods.

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Following increased production of practical items,

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the Industrial Revolution's next leap forward was

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creating consumer goods,

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like sewing machines and radios,

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which were aimed at making life easier for people across the country.

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So C is the right answer.

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However, with all these new items suddenly available for purchase,

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many shoppers found themselves struggling with some newfound side effects:

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decision fatigue, wallet pain, and worst of all,

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consumption.

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[ flat line beep ]

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[ cash register cha-ching ]

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