Multiple choice questions:
Part-1
Markets and Government
1. Governments can provide infrastructure, information, and regulation to help lower the cost of
A. private property.
B. labor.
C. raw materials.
D. market transactions.
2. A fundamental responsibility of government is to intervene in markets where the private cost of some activity is
A. neither higher than nor less than the social cost.
B. higher than the social cost.
C. less than the social cost.
D. different from the social cost.
3. In the House of Representatives, the _______ Committee can determine when and how a bill is debated, including the permissible number of amendments that may be considered.
A. Mark-up
B. Finance
C. Ways and Means
D. Rules
4. Under _______ the government or some other regulatory body sets a cap for the total amount of emissions of a certain pollutant, such as SO2 or CO2.
A. Paternalism
B. Pigovian tax
C. regulation
D. cap-and-trade
5. Ideally, the revenues generated by a _______ tax on cigarettes will more or less precisely offset the social costs of cigarette smoking.
A. Pigovian
B. recessive
C. Coase
D. progressive
6. Based on observations related to intensity of preference among political interest groups, which of the following would be the key insight?
A. Large organized groups have an advantage when it comes to winning benefits from the political system.
B. Large grassroots movements tend to be disorganized.
C. Small organized groups have an advantage when it comes to winning benefits from the political system.
D. People with strong values have intense preferences.
7. Most environmental problems are the result of _______ externalities.
A. unknown
B. negative
C. positive
D. undefined
8. Which of the following weaknesses applies most specifically to a presidential, as opposed to a parliamentary, system?
A. Coalition instability
B. Gatekeeper prerogatives
C. Excessive minority party influence
D. Gridlock
9. Which of the following strategic points of entry into the political process best reflects democratic consensus?
A. Executive order
B. The courts
C. Referendum
D. Federal regulator agency
10. _______ is the mechanism that brings the supply of a good or service into equilibrium with demand.
A. Price
B. Uncertainty
C. Scarcity
D. Opportunity cost
11. Several large companies that collude to act as a de facto monopoly are generally referred to as a/an
A. oligopoly.
B. oligarchy.
C. trust.
D. cartel.
12. When older technologies are replaced by new technologies and new ways of organizing work supersede older practices, old technologies and old skills become dated. Economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the phrase _______ to describe this phenomenon.
A. "creative destruction"
B. "marginal social cost"
C. "future shock"
D. "cultural lag"
13. The Luddites were found guilty of wrecking
A. automated printing presses.
B. railroad cars laden with foreign produce.
C. ATM machines.
D. textile manufacturing machines.
14. At Motel Zee, for most of the year, the supply of motel rooms exactly matches the demand for rooms. This is called _______
A. market productivity
B. market failure
C. market transaction
D. market equilibrium
15. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Where a political map is composed of legislative districts, at least two legislators must be elected from each district.
B. In a district-based election, gerrymandering favors whomever gets to draw the district boundaries to gain an electoral advantage.
C. Under the internationally accepted rules of proportional representation, a party that wins fewer than 10 percent of the vote won't win any seats in the legislature.
D. Where a plurality rule applies to an at-large election, the person who gets the majority of the votes is the winner.
16. Jason and Jane are discussing the properties of markets. Jason argues that because markets are driven by voluntary actions, market outcomes always promote the overall social welfare. Jane argues that while markets may make many people better off, illegal markets have the same "self-healing" properties as legal markets and reduce overall social welfare. Who is correct?
A. Both Jason and Jane are correct.
B. Only Jason is correct.
C. Only Jane is correct.
D. Neither Jason nor Jane is correct.
17. As illustrated by a lighthouse, both nonrivalry and nonexclusivity are attributes of
A. club goods.
B. common-pool resources.
C. private goods.
D. public goods.
18. When you divide the percentage change in quantity supplied by the percentage change in price, you're specifically concerned with determining
A. elasticity of price.
B. price elasticity of supply.
C. price elasticity of demand.
D. elasticity of demand.
19. Under Arrow's Theorem, if every individual in a group prefers A to B, then the group must also prefer A to B. In the theorem, this is referred to as
A. Pareto optimality.
B. transitivity.
C. nondictatorship.
D. unrestricted domain.
20. Arrow's impossibility theorem states that when any group is making a decision among three or more alternatives no voting system will satisfy a set of reasonable criteria that most individuals would expect from a fair, democratic, process without violating which of the basic processes:
A. completeness
B. transitivity
C. all of the above
D. unrestricted domain
Part-2
Tools for Analysis
1. In the event that a researcher conducting a program evaluation intentionally or unintentionally distorts the findings of a study, we are probably observing some kind of _______ bias.
A. survivorship
B. participant
C. coincidental
D. self-selection
2. What we call the sampling error is, simply, the _______ variation that results from taking a sample as opposed to studying the whole study population.
A. improvident
B. natural
C. accidental
D. incidental
3. In a multiple regression analysis, we find that two of the independent variables are so tightly correlated that the unique influence of either variable can't be determined. What is the name for this common regression analysis error?
A. Multicollinearity
B. Endogeneity
C. Data mining
D. Intervariable bias
4. A type I error occurs when
A. both the alternate hypotheses are rejected due to an absence of data.
B. the null hypothesis is rejected even though it is true.
C. the null hypothesis is accepted even though it is false.
D. the alternate hypothesis is rejected even though it is true.
5. Which of the following best describes a Type II error?
A. This occurs when the null hypothesis is accepted because it is true
B. This occurs when the null hypothesis is accepted even though it is false
C. This occurs when the null hypothesis is rejected even though it is true
D. This occurs when the null hypothesis is accepted even though it is false
6. In the general formula FV = PV(1 + r)n, in monetary terms, what does PV stand for?
A. Probable value
B. Predicted values
C. Potential value
D. Present value
7. In the context of interpreting the results of a multiple regression analysis, which statement is true?
A. The statistical significance of a regression analysis outcome can't be calculated accurately.
B. If the sign of an independent variable is "+," its correlation with the dependent variable will be negative.
C. If the sign of an independent variable is "+," its correlation with the dependent variable will be positive.
D. As the sample size increases, the size of the standard error will also increase.
8. The Zee Company wants to see how customers feel about their lawn care product. They select a sample from their customer records and send each of them a survey. They promise a $50 gift certificate in exchange for filling out and returning the survey. Company Z won't be able to gather a representative sample in this manner because it will be tainted by a _______ bias.
A. selection
B. self-selection
C. opportunity cost
D. positive-selection
9. In a bivariate regression analysis, the _______ of the regression line is the change in y generated by every change in x.
A. fit
B. residual
C. slope
D. intercept
10. In multivariate regression analysis, the degrees of freedom are a function of the amount of data on which the results are based. Therefore, where degrees of freedom = n - k - 1, the expression k will stand for the number of
A. independent variables in the equation minus the dependent variable.
B. independent variables in the equation.
C. variables in the equation.
D. observations.
11. In the context of cost-benefit analysis, a selected _______ discount rate will have the most profound effects on costs and benefits projected for the distant future.
A. public
B. social
C. marginal
D. private-sector
12. An insurance company can use the formula for calculating expected value to establish expected _______ on 10,000 home insurance policies, thus allowing them to calculate _______ fair premium prices.
A. gain; actuarially
B. loss; monetarily
C. loss; actuarially
D. gain; monetarily
13. The _____ id the midpoint in a distribution of numbers when they are organized in increasing or decreasing order.
A. decile
B. mean
C. median
D. outlier
14. Imagine that we are using multivariate analysis to assess the outcome of a drug-use prevention program. If we lay out our regression equation properly, the coefficient on our _______ dummy variable should measure the relationship between people who participated in our antidrug program and those who didn't.
A. control
B. explanatory
C. affiliation
D. treatment
15. In the context of hypothesis testing, the proposition we wish to test is stated as the _______ hypothesis
A. experimental
B. control
C. alternative
D. null
16. The process of assigning a/an _______ cost to resources with no obvious market price will employ some form of shadow pricing.
A. advantage
B. monetized
C. social
D. opportunity cost
17. We determine that parental income (X) is positively correlated to children's academic achievement scores (Y). Therefore, we can assume that
A. Y and X occur at the same time.
B. X causes Y.
C. Y causes X.
D. X precedes Y in time.
18. Based on the central limit theorem, we will know that at the 95 percent level of confidence, 95 of 100 observed math achievement scores will fall within _______ standard errors to either side of the population mean.
A. 0.95
B. 3.0
C. 2.0
D. 1.96
19. In general, the dependent variable is to the _______ as an independent variable is to a/an _______ variable.
A. outcome; explanatory
B. variance; explanatory
C. variance; predicted
D. outcome; predicted
20. To figure out how a resource can be used directly, you'll focus on
A. nonuse value.
B. economic cost or benefit.
C. use value.
D. noneconomic cost or benefit.
Part-3
Making Policy
1. As a public-policy analyst, you must recognize that institutions
A. shape public policy.
B. that shape public policy must be regulated.
C. should never be allowed to shape public policy.
D. always shape public policy.
2. In a nutshell, why do generous subsidies to American cotton farmers seriously reduce the income of West African cotton farmers?
A. American cotton farmers produce more cotton than is required for the global market.
B. American cotton farmers produce less cotton than is required for the global market.
C. Prices in the global market for cotton are set at unrealistically low levels.
D. Prices in the global market for cotton are set at unrealistically high levels.
3. When ordinary, otherwise decent citizens can't be excluded from taking advantage of some public good, like a tax-supported park, they have a strong incentive to
A. vandalize public property.
B. be opposed to public goods.
C. be free riders.
D. misuse public property.
4. The impact of a policy change has on different groups - different income groups, racial groups, neighborhoods, or other relevant consideration is known as _________.
A. distributional effects
B. unintended effects
C. counterintuitive effects
D. intended effects
5. Regarding your textbook's real-world policy discussion of economic growth in India, which statement is true?
A. India has overregulated businesses, especially in the manufacturing sector.
B. Bangalore's hi-tech industries have benefitted from government infrastructure development.
C. India has overinvested in infrastructure.
D. Road construction has reduced traffic congestion.
6. The FBI has access to forensic techniques and databases that are unavailable at the state and local law enforcement levels. When we are busy formulating a public policy initiative, this example might illustrate institutional
A. disparity.
B. rigidity.
C. capacity.
D. propriety.
7. Regarding fundamental rationales for government intervention, if we are concerned to identify situations where the social marginal cost exceeds the private marginal cost, what specific rationale are we exploring?
A. Promoting competition
B. Equity and the social safety net
C. Providing public goods
D. Ameliorating externalities
8. _______ incentives may be encouraged when stakeholders seek to maximize their utility through behavior that is socially harmful.
A. Paradoxical
B. Conflicted
C. Perverse
D. Contrafactual
9. Regarding the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and whistle-blowers, which statement is true?
A. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act vests OSHA with the power to investigate whistle-blower claims.
B. When OSHA's investigative responsibilities were expanded, its funding was expanded.
C. OSHA has the authority to issue subpoenas.
D. OSHA specializes in protecting whistle-blowers associated with securities fraud.
10. Which of the following statements is true?
A. All of the above are true.
B. Institutions are the laws, organizations, and accepted practices that enable a society to make the best possible use of its resources.
C. Institutions are often given the responsibility of making individuals, firms, and even nations, do things they would otherwise chose not to do.
D. Institutions earn and maintain legitimacy by reasonably reflecting the preferences of the people over whom authority is being exercised.
11. Antitrust laws can prevent firms in the same industry from price fixing. Among rationales that justify government intervention, which one applies here?
A. Promoting competition
B. Paternalism
C. Equity and the social safety net
D. Lowering transaction costs
12. Josh feels threatened by Mexican immigrants pouring into the country in search of jobs; he refers to the immigrants as illegal aliens. Jane is in favor of expanding job opportunities for Mexican immigrants and refers to the immigrants as undocumented workers. Regarding the use of language in the context of persuasion, what does this scenario illustrate?
A. Substantiation
B. Contradiction
C. Propaganda
D. Framing
13. Respecting Brazil's Bolsa Familia program, which statement is true?
A. Eligibility for the program is unconditional.
B. Payments are usually made to the female head of household.
C. The benefits of the program actually serve only a very small proportion of Brazil's poor.
D. The program is highly centralized.
14. _______ democratic institutions include provisions designed to assure that the majority preference will not prevail under specified circumstances.
A. All
B. About half of all
C. Nearly all
D. A small number of
15. In popular parlance, an individual who is obsessed with "winning" in the arena of political process without any concern for the common good is referred to as a
A. geek.
B. hack.
C. wonk.
D. hacker.
16. Because people with power and influence must approve policy changes, institutions are _______ difficult to change.
A. somewhat
B. inherently
C. often
D. impossibly
17. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Government institutions must exclude non-democratic provisions.
B. A public company is a good example of a public institution.
C. Institutions are expected to prevent the "tyranny of the majority."
D. Public institutions are not normally expected to be enslaved by member preferences.
18. _______ are defined as the generally accepted procedures that evolve over time but are not formally codified yet govern communal behavior.
A. Internal incentives
B. Balances of consequences
C. Preferences
D. Unwritten rules
19. Many of a society's important institutions govern communal behavior by way of "unwritten rules." In your text these kinds of social arrangements are referred to as _______ institutions.
A. traditional
B. ad hoc
C. informal
D. cultural
20. Regarding authority in effective institutions, your text emphasizes the example of _______ as a policy issue which falls under no commonly recognized or empowered institution.
A. police corruption
B. involuntarily draftees
C. the illegal drug trade
D. climate change