1. Many things that society values, such as good health, high-quality education, enjoyable recreational opportunities, and desirable moral attributes of the population, are not measured as part of the GDP. It follows that:
a. GDP is not a useful measure of society's welfare.
b. GDP is still a useful measure of society's welfare because providing these other attributes is the responsibility of government.
c. GDP is still a useful measure of society's welfare because it measures a nation's ability to purchase the inputs that can be used to help produce the things that contribute to welfare.
d. GDP is still the best measure of society's welfare because these other values cannot actually be measured.
2. In countries where women are discriminated against, policies that increase the likelihood of career success and educational opportunities for women are likely to decrease the birth rate.
a. True
b. False
3. The real interest rate tells you how fast the purchasing power of your bank account rises over time.
a. True
b. False
4. Which of the following would, by itself, reveal the most about a country's standard of living?
a. Its level of capital
b. The number of hours worked
c. Its availability of natural resources
d. Its productivity
5. The nominal interest rate tells you how fast the number of dollars in your bank account rises over time.
a. True
b. False
6. If total spending rises from one year to the next, then the economy must be producing a large output of goods and services.
a. True
b. False
7. After adjusting for inflation, over time the prices of most natural resources have been:
a. steady or falling, which means that our ability to conserve them is growing more rapidly than their supplies are dwindling.
b. steady or falling, which means that their supplies are dwindling more rapidly than our ability to conserve them is growing.
c. rising, which means that our ability to conserve them is growing more rapidly than their supplies are dwindling.
d. rising, which means that their supplies are dwindling more rapidly than our ability to conserve them is growing.
8. One reason that governments may find it useful to sponsor universities and basic research is that, to a large extent, knowledge is generally a private good.
a. True
b. False
9. Gross domestic product includes all:
a. legal and illegal goods, but it excludes all legal and illegal services.
b. legal and illegal goods and all legal and illegal services.
c. legal goods and services, but it excludes illegal goods and services.
d. legal and illegal goods and legal services, but it excludes illegal services.
10. Which of the following is included in GDP?
a. Medical marijuana purchased from a government-run pharmacy by a glaucoma patient
b. Recreational marijuana purchased from a drug dealer by a college student
c. Recreational marijuana produced and consumed by a man in his attic
d. All of the choices apply
11. International data on real GDP per person give us a sense of how standards of living vary across countries.
a. True
b. False
12. For the purpose of calculating GDP, investment is spending on:
a. stocks, bonds, and other financial assets.
b. real estate and financial assets such as stocks and bonds.
c. capital equipment, inventories, and structures, including household purchases of new housing.
d. capital equipment, inventories, and structures, excluding household purchases of new housing.
13. Suppose Turkey increases its saving rate. In the long run:
a. the growth rates of productivity and real GDP per person increase.
b. productivity and real GDP per person increase.
c. the growth rate of productivity increases and real GDP per person increases.
d. productivity increases and the growth rate of real GDP per person increases.
14. Economist Robert Fogel focused on which of the following factors as one determinant of long-run economic growth?
a. Education
b. Research and development
c. Nutrition
d. Trade restrictions
15. GDP per person tells us the income and expenditure of the:
a. richest person in the economy.
b. poorest person in the economy.
c. average person in the economy.
d. entire economy.
16. If Country A produces 6,000 units of goods and services using 600 hours of labor, and if Country B produces 5,000 units of goods and services using 450 units of labor, then productivity is higher in Country B than in Country A.
a. True
b. False
17. In years of economic contraction, firms throughout the economy increase their production of goods and services, employment rises, and jobs are easy to find.
a. True
b. False
18. In the calculation of the CPI, sweaters are given greater weight than jeans if:
a. the price of sweaters is higher than the price of jeans.
b. it costs more to produce sweaters than it costs to produce jeans.
c. sweaters are more readily available than jeans are to the typical consumer.
d. consumers buy more sweaters than jeans.
19. Which of the following is physical capital?
a. The strength of workers
b. The knowledge of workers
c. Financial assets like cash and bonds
d. The equipment in factory
20. One of the widely acknowledged problems with using the consumer price index as a measure of the cost of living is that the CPI:
a. fails to measure all changes in the quality of goods.
b. displays a housing bias.
c. accounts for changes in prices of some goods, but prices of certain goods are assumed to remain constant.
d. All of the choices apply.