<P> Roosevelt 's advisers believed that excessive competition and technical progress had led to overproduction and lowered wages and prices , which they believed lowered demand and employment ( deflation ) . He argued that government economic planning was necessary to remedy this . New Deal economists argued that cut - throat competition had hurt many businesses and that with prices having fallen 20 % and more , `` deflation '' exacerbated the burden of debt and would delay recovery . They rejected a strong move in Congress to limit the workweek to 30 hours . Instead their remedy , designed in cooperation with big business , was the NIRA . It included stimulus funds for the WPA to spend and sought to raise prices , give more bargaining power for unions ( so the workers could purchase more ) and reduce harmful competition . </P>
what new deal program limited production in industry
NIRA