Deck 17: Economic and Social Policy the Democratic Connections

Question 1

Market economics views government's role as a(n)

A)mechanism to safeguard disadvantaged groups from the market.
B)arbiter between competing economic interests.
C)totally unnecessary component of the economy.
D)overseer of the general conditions that allow the economy to function smoothly.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Popular democrats understand economic policies as

A)comprehended only by professional economists.
B)best determined not by experts but by citizens and their representatives.
C)tradeoffs between expert fine tuning and citizen apathy.
D)focusing on the expansion and not the distribution of the economic pie.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

President Bush has seen the surpluses of 2001

A)increase to higher levels.
B)become massive deficits.
C)balance the budget.
D)reduce slightly.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What is the importance of tax expenditures?

Question 5

What is the difference between a means-tested benefit and an entitlement?

Question 6

Explain policy feedback.

Question 7

One implication of the elite democratic view of the economy is that

A)economic policies rarely involve political choices.
B)economic policies need to be placed in the hands of government.
C)citizens need to be better informed about how the economy works.
D)the market economy is full of subjective analysis and needs constant oversight.

Question 8

Explain how elite democrats and popular democrats differ in their understanding of economic policy.Who should control or monitor the economy? How should inequalities be redressed?

Question 9

The Laffer curve argues that increasing tax rates

A)above a certain point actually decreases total tax revenues.
B)is the best method to reduce the federal deficit.
C)above a certain point actually encourages productive investments.
D)up to a certain point is necessary for economic justice.

Question 10

What is the difference between progressive tax and regressive tax?

Question 11

Explain supply-side economics.

Question 12

What are majoritarian politics?

Question 13

Elite democrats disagree with popular democrats on the types of taxes that should be used.Name and define the two types of taxes and which theory supports each.Given what you know about tax policies, what type of tax policy has Obama employed?

Question 14

Explain discretionary spending.

Question 15

Keynesian economics seeks to make the economy perform at maximum capacity by

A)using monetary policy to control the business cycle.
B)encouraging the government to save its revenue for unanticipated hardships.
C)allowing the market to determine the amount of spending and taxing the government requires.
D)allowing the government to spend more during recession.

Question 16

What is macroeconomic policy?

Question 17

What is the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996?

Question 18

What is the Laffer curve?

Question 19

What is the difference between fiscal policy and monetary policy?

Question 20

What role does the Federal Reserve play?

Question 21

Created by the 1935 Social Security Act, the program to which most people apply the label "welfare" was officially known until 1996 as

A)Social Security.
B)Medicare.
C)Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
D)The Federal Antipoverty Program.

Question 22

Assessing the welfare system prior to 1996, the text concludes that

A)it did not help recipients to achieve self-sufficiency.
B)it worked much better than anyone realized.
C)it was actually more popular than politicians thought.
D)its generous level of benefits discouraged recipients from seeking employment.

Question 23

America's two-tier welfare state

A)results in broad coverage for all types of people in need.
B)produces an unequal pattern of assistance, with some groups favored more than others.
C)is more generous than one-tier European welfare states.
D)has put increasing pressure on elected officials to cut the Social Security system.

Question 24

The United States spends

A)more per capita on social policies than any other developed nation.
B)more per capita on social policies than Great Britain but less than France.
C)about the same per capita on social policies as most European nations.
D)less per capita on social policies than most other developed nations.

Question 25

President Clinton

A)only supported welfare reform after Republicans took over Congress in 1994.
B)promised to "end welfare as we know it" in his 1992 campaign.
C)vetoed the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 just before the election.
D)made welfare reform his top legislative priority in 1993.

Question 26

Benefits paid out by Social Security to the elderly are _____.

A)regressive
B)meager
C)progressive
D)confiscatory

Question 27

Tax expenditures allow the government to

A)enact legislation that benefits those most underrepresented in the system.
B)reduce the money supply by controlling who pays taxes.
C)subsidize certain taxpayers at the expense of others.
D)establish a ceiling on the amount of money it can spend.

Question 28

Which of the following uses the government's taxing and spending policies to slow down or speed up the economy?

A)Inflation
B)Monetary policy
C)Fiscal policy
D)Interest rates

Question 29

The members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve are

A)appointed by Congress.
B)appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate.
C)appointed by the Association of Private Bankers.
D)selected by the chair of the Federal Reserve.

Question 30

Popular democrats believe that

A)the American economic boom of the mid-1990s shows that the economists can be trusted to produce prosperity.
B)successful economic policies do away with the need for social policies.
C)increasing economic inequality is a dangerous trend for democracy.
D)elite democrats are now committed to a more democratic economy.

Question 31

Monetary policy

A)was advocated by Alexander Hamilton.
B)results in high deficits.
C)includes falling prices.
D)uses the government's control over the money supply to speed up or slow down the economy.

Question 32

Proponents of President George W.Bush's tax plan argue that

A)we need to raise income taxes in order to keep the budget surplus.
B)tax cuts should be evenly distributed across all income levels.
C)federal income taxes should be completely eliminated.
D)the people who pay the most taxes should get the largest tax cuts.