Which statement accurately describes a policy question during the 1920s regarding business regulation?

Which statement accurately describes a policy question during the 1920s regarding business regulation?

• A. Decreasing federal regulatory burden
• B. Increasing regulation
• C. Expanding antitrust prosecutions
• D. Expanding government ownership of industry

Answer: (A)

This question tests the idea that the 1920s favored limiting government intervention in business. After World War I, many political leaders, most notably Harding and Coolidge, pushed for a lighter regulatory touch, lower taxes, and less interference in how businesses operated. The goal was to promote growth and prosperity by letting markets and private enterprise function with fewer rules from Washington. So describing the era as aiming to decrease the federal regulatory burden fits the period’s pro-business, limited-government push. The other options describe approaches that were not characteristic of the decade. Increasing regulation or expanding antitrust prosecutions would imply a more interventionist stance than the era typically endorsed. Expanding government ownership of industry would point to socialist-leaning or New Deal-era policies, which came later.

This question tests the idea that the 1920s favored limiting government intervention in business. After World War I, many political leaders, most notably Harding and Coolidge, pushed for a lighter regulatory touch, lower taxes, and less interference in how businesses operated. The goal was to promote growth and prosperity by letting markets and private enterprise function with fewer rules from Washington. So describing the era as aiming to decrease the federal regulatory burden fits the period’s pro-business, limited-government push.

The other options describe approaches that were not characteristic of the decade. Increasing regulation or expanding antitrust prosecutions would imply a more interventionist stance than the era typically endorsed. Expanding government ownership of industry would point to socialist-leaning or New Deal-era policies, which came later.