How was The Progressive Era a turning point in history?
The Progressive Era brought significant reforms to American industrial capitalism and to the American political system through participation and activism by ordinary Americans. Progressives organized to improve working and living conditions for poor people, to address glaring social and environmental problems, and to expand opportunities for democratic involvement in the political system. Progressives challenged the power of ruling elites and pushed for the active use of government to regulate business and to protect workers and consumers. Progressives pushed to extend voting rights to women and to expand democracy through direct election of U.S. senators and through the creation of initiative and referendum petition processes in the states. Progressives applied scientific research to social problems, and they used the media to publicize social problems. They improved public health in cities, set aside lands for conservation, won improvements in working conditions and working hours in factories, provided education to immigrant children, won passage of health and safety laws, pushed through the prohibition amendment, and regulated and in some cases broke up monopolies. One of the biggest victories for progressives was the passage of the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, which extended the right to vote to women nationwide. Progressives were opposed by proponents of laissez-faire capitalism who argued that government had a very limited role or no role to play in regulating business and free markets.
To what extent would monopolies or semi-monopolies form if there was no government regulation keeping large corporations from colluding and merging?
To no extent.Monopolies can only exist if one is able to force out competition from arising in a given marketplace.One is only able to force out competition from arising in a given marketplace if they have, themselves, the ability to use force and threat of violence to keep new players out or they pay a high salary to someone to fly or live in a place, where this same power of force and threat of violence without repercussions has been centralized, and in exchange for large re-election campaign donations, demand them, the one to receive said donations, to pass regulations that benefit the large company that can afford such a high salaried employee and harm those little companies who can't afford it in order to saturate markets and monopolize industries.Contrary to what the amazing K-12 American education system has taught, government is not the protector from monopolies, rather - government is the enforcer of monopolies. The biggest example are the industries that government itself has monopolized or brought under its iron fist.No one can hold a monopoly without government force and state power available.
Does capitalism without regulation inevitably lead to monopolies for the highly successful producers?
It could, but that doesn't matter. Apple has the monopoly on iPhone, but is that bad? Not at all. There are other cheaper options, but most people are willing to pay more for the iPhone because of the convenience and extra value it offers them.There is a beautiful lesson from history. Standard Oil for years had absolute monopoly on kerosene, but instead of charging ever rising prices, prices went down continuously until kerosene became surpassed by gasoline. Standard Oil offered gasoline, but didn't have a monopoly on this commodity and there were hundreds of producers that came in and out of business over the years.Monopolies are not a bad thing, unless it is guaranteed by the government. Then, the government uses force to close any business that may want to compete withe the monopoly with rising prices and worse service in consequence. As an example the postal service. It is the worse service ever, but no private company can compete with them delivering your mail.The solution is always to allow the markets to decide and support the best service at the best price without any government intervention.
Why is the largest possible value of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) 10,000?
A. It's purely math based. Within an industry a firm is assigned a number that is one to one related to it's marke share. This number is squared for each firm and then all these numbers are summed together. Now consider a monopoly. It has 100% of the market so gets 100 assigned to it. The rest of the firms have 0% so are assigned 0. Squaring gives you 10,000 to the first firm while the rest get 0 each. Summing gives you 10,000. Now say that one other firm gets x% of the market away from the monopoist. Then the HHI is HHI = (100-x)^2 + x^2 = 10,000-200*x + x^2 + x^2 = 10,000-200*x + 2*x^2 Now x is a very small number. So when it's squared it's even smaller. Adding double a very small number is adding very little still. And taking away 200*x is subtracting a rather large number when compared to 2*x^2. So HHI falls. From the design of the HHI then, only a monopoly can ever achieve 10000.
To what extent did the progressive movement succeed? To what extent did it fail?
The biggest failures was that the progressive Movement did not address racial issues. The success of progressivism owed much to publicity generated by the muckrakers, writers who detailed the horrors of poverty, urban slums, dangerous factory conditions, and child labor, among a host of other ills. Successes were many, beginning with the Interstate Commerce Act (1887) and the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890). Progressives never spoke with one mind and differed sharply over the most effective means to deal with the ills generated by the trusts; some favored an activist approach to trust-busting, others preferred a regulatory approach. A vocal minority supported socialism with government ownership of the means of production. Other progressive reforms followed in the form of a conservation movement, railroad legislation, and food and drug laws. The progressive spirit also was evident in new amendments added to the Constitution (text), which provided for a new means to elect senators, protect society through prohibition and extend suffrage to women. Urban problems were addressed by professional social workers who operated settlement houses as a means to protect and improve the prospects of the poor. However, efforts to place limitations on child labor were routinely thwarted by the courts. The needs of African Americans and Native Americans were poorly served or served not at all — a major shortcoming of the progressive movement. Progressive reforms were carried out not only on the national level, but in states and municipalities. Prominent governors devoted to change included Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin and Hiram Johnson of California. Such reforms as the direct primary, secret ballot, and the initiative, referendum, and recall were effected. Local governments were strengthened by the widespread use of trained professionals, particularly with the city manager system replacing the frequently corrupt mayoral system.
What are the Disadvantages of Commodity Money?
The biggest problem with having a currency that is dependent on commodities is price volatility. When the price of oil goes up a lot, so does the value of the Canadian dollar. Sounds good right? But two weeks later Russia could announce that they found the largest oil reserves on Earth and that would drive down the price of oil, and with it the value of the Canadian dollar (or any other currency strongly tied to the price of oil.) There is a lack of stability when a currency depends on being able to find and produce a particular naturally occurring but naturally rare substance.