So I think it is safe to say that the political causes of the Cold War was between communism and democracy and the competition for other nations to adapt their form of government. The economic causes included the U.S. idea of free trade with poorer countries, so in a way these countries would 'owe' them and support democracy because it helped them, so economics were used to gain the loyalty of other nations to support their political beliefs. Socially the Red Scare and McCarthyism was a big deal because it affected the general public and truned the masses against communism.
I believe economics is to blame for the Cold War because after WWII nobody wanted another Germany and everyone believed their country's beliefs were the best and they wanted to expand their way of life and raise the standard of living after all the terror and destruction seen in WWII, much like the Roaring '20s after WWI. It was under this guise they justified free trade and kept the American economy booming, and communist desire to spread and our belief in the domino theory effected that so there was tension between the US and the USSR because nobody wanted to be another pre WWII Germany, nobody wanted to get that desperate.
I believe it was caused mostly by hard feelings on both sides and that's why it was a stalemate, because each nation had reasons to attack the other but neither one wanted to deal with the awful consequences that were sure to unfold as a result of nuclear warfare.
