Deck 21: Economic Development and the Environment

Question 1

In the simplest terms possible, the total impact of people on environmental resources can be expressed as

A)Total environmental impact= Environmental impact per person X Number of people
B)Total Resource Base Reductions = Total Resource Base / Number of people
C)Total environmental impact = Impact per person / Number of people
D)Total Resource Base Reduction = Resources used per person X people per captia

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In the face of extensive poverty, willingness to pay measures may be _______.

A)small
B)large
C)immeasurable
D)infinite

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Developing countries are mainly concerned with water and air pollution in their own countries.In particular, one of the pressing concerns is

A)water supplies that are responsible for death and disease.
B)river waters that have become contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals.
C)seepages from industrial sites and waste dumps that threaten ground water.
D)All of the above

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Because less developed countries often have more of their population involved in agriculture, improvements in environmental quality can improve land productivity and the environment and the economy can be seen as

A)primary industries.
B)decoupled.
C)substitutes.
D)compliments.

Question 5

The lack of management of common-property externalities is often a property rights problem caused by the lack of __________ that assigns individual or small-group property rights.

A)an institution
B)tax law
C)a market
D)political pressure

Question 6

When developing environmental policy for developing economies, there is a critical need to

A)restrict energy use to renewable sources.
B)understand the benefits and costs of alternative policies.
C)consult the World Health organization about the health effects of pollution.
D)maximize development initially because citizens will value environmental assets more once their income has increased.

Question 7

As peoples' incomes ________, they are more likely to agree to sacrifice for a/an ________ environmental quality.

A)increase; improvement
B)decrease; improvement
C)increase; decrease
D)none of the above

Question 8

Though relationships between income and environmental quality are not inevitable, there are some general trends that have been revealed.Studies show that as a country's per capita income rises

A)exposure to CO₂ emissions increase.
B)exposure to particulate solids wastes increase.
C)exposure to particulates and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) first increase and then decrease.
D)all of the above

Question 9

In developing countries, ________ is/are the dominant trend in environmental policy.

A)command and control
B)incentives
C)cap and trade
D)emissions taxes

Question 10

Increasing incomes are almost always associated with

A)lower municipal waste.
B)lowered fertility rates.
C)carbon dioxide (CO₂) per capita.
D)decreased access to safe water.

Question 11

Economic development is measured by

A)an increases in the aggregate level of output.
B)an increase in per capita output.
C)an increase in economic activity without any underlying change in the fundamental structure and institutions of a country.
D)All of the above

Question 12

When a positive discount factor is used, the discounted value of long-run environmental damage contributes to ________.

A)inaccurate valuation of the future
B)lost productivity
C)maintaining intergenerational equity
D)differences in intergenerational equity

Question 13

Economic growth is measured by

A)an increase in the aggregate level of output.
B)an increase in per capita output.
C)a set of technological, institutional and social transformations.
D)All of the above

Question 14

Though relationships between income and environmental quality are not inevitable, there are some general trends that have been revealed.Studies show that as a country's per capita income rises

A)exposure to CO₂ emissions decrease.
B)exposure to particulate solids wastes decrease.
C)exposure to particulates and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) first decrease and then increase.
D)access to safe water and adequate sanitation rise.

Question 15

People in developing countries, especially those with very low incomes, discount the future _________.

A)at an arbitrary rate
B)at a very low rate
C)at a high rate
D)none of the above

Question 16

Sustainability is defined as a practice that

A)shifts the PPC to the left.
B)relies on nonrenewable resources.
C)does not reduce the long-run productivity of a country's natural resource assets on which income and development depend.
D)all of the above.

Question 17

One of the issues of measuring benefits in developing countries is that the willingness to pay requires

A)the use of an estimated discount rate.
B)ability to pay.
C)understanding peoples' tastes and preferences
D)none of the above

Question 18

Open access resources promote a __________ situation.

A)pay as you use
B)pay when you can
C)use-it-or-lose-it
D)tax and trade

Question 19

For many environmental problems, the situation of population exposure is likely

A)dependent upon technology choices that are adopted within a country.
B)dependent upon the preferences of the citizens residing in the country.
C)to decrease with economic development.
D)all of the above

Question 20

A good example of a type of policy that creates distortions in local economies is government subsidies for pesticide use by farmers.The distortion effects include

A)heavy pesticide exposure for farm workers.
B)overuse of agricultural chemicals by farmers.
C)rapid development of immunity by targeted pests.
D)all of the above

Question 21

Payment for Environmental Services (PES) programs are

A)incentive programs that offer monetary payments to people who engage in environmental conservation activities.
B)command and control policies that pay participants for participation in reduction programs.
C)emissions tax programs that charge people for specific types of emissions.
D)technology standards programs that offer subsidies to people who buy specific technology that reduces their emissions.

Question 22

Because developing countries typically have lower GDPs per capita than developed countries, it becomes especially important for their environmental policies to be cost-effective.This statement would support

A)emissions standards.
B)technology based emission standards.
C)command and control policies.
D)incentive based policies.

Question 23

Sustainabile practices focus on keeping ___________ capital productive

A)human
B)physical
C)institutional
D)all of the above

Question 24

In environmental policy, the term technology transfer refers to

A)the marketing of environmental technology from private companies to public entities.
B)the technology and carbon intensity differential between trading countries.
C)the transfer of revenue gained from technology transfers from private to public citizens
D)the transfer of skills and technology from developed to developing countries that allows for economic development with lower environmental impacts.

Question 25

Some of the most egregious cases of environmental damage in developing countries are projects that had direct involvement from

A)the United States.
B)the World Health Organization.
C)the North American Free Trade Agreement
D)international aid organizations.

Question 26

Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs)

A)are incentive programs that offer cash payments conditional on recipients engaging in socially productive activities.
B)are command and control policies that pay participants for participation in emission reduction programs
C)emissions tax programs that charge people for specific types of emissions.
D)technology standards programs that offer subsidies to people who buy specific technology that reduces their emissions.

Question 27

Developed countries should focus on _________ in supporting developing countries environmental initiatives.

A)population control
B)technology transfer
C)international manadates
D)trade restrictions