Posters and Propaganda

Each of these posters deals with the rationing that occurred to World War II. At the time, supplies for the average domestic citizen were very limited, as much was sent overseas for the soldiers. To encourage the citizenry and boost morale, the government attempted to portray frugality as a sign of patriotism. Conserving resources made one patriotic, since it helped keep demand down and increased supply, and consuming resources in excess was unpatriotic, as it increased demand and limited the supply available for other citizens and the soldiers who were fighting for liberty. By simply shifting the connotation of rationalization, associating it with patriotism and glory rather than limitation, the government's stream of propaganda sought to encourage thrift and discourage waste during the national supply crisis that was World War II.

Due to the limited supplies and need to conserve resources, this seems like a viable marketing campaign. In most cases, self-sufficiency is the road to poverty, but due to the short term nature of the crisis, conserving the readily available resources was a necessary step. In the long-term, more resources may be discovered, but until then, the US had to work with what it had. In terms of supply and demand, the lesson here is simple: diminished supply with a constant demand leads to rationing. This is the raison d'être of economics. What this did to the market is probably more interesting. Prices were probably very high, due  to the disparity between demand and supply. Market inefficiencies were probably huge, as nobody was well-off enough to predict into the future. People had to live by the moment and had much less expendable income. Trade likely became much less frequent, which would have depressed the economy. Generally, the posters were right in the need to conserve, but the effects of rationing were certainly not a sign of increased economic growth.

On this note, Keynesians like to say that war spending boosted GDP. A large portion of the population stood in lines waiting for food and other needs, due to high backlogs and limited quantities. Imagine all the cumulative time spent in lines. What else could the time have been used for? Imagine how much of it was spent idle in line, rather than producing, or at the very least doing something. How it could be argued that this boosts economic activity is beyond me. High unemployment, rationed supplies, soldiers fighting and dying overseas, where is the prosperity? Where is the greater economic activity? Any production that went into GDP was likely formed from the concessions of the citizenry, as these posters clearly illuminate. Arguing that WWII ended the Great Depression by boosting the economy is one of the most heinous of all applications of the broken-window fallacy. These posters clearly show the damage to the wealth of each and every citizen, who were forced to make sacrifices for the greater good. May these posters serve as a reminder of that which is not seen.