Deck 1: The Economic Approach

Question 1

While waiting in line to buy two tacos at 75 cents each, and a medium drink for 80 cents, Jordan notices that the restaurant has a value meal containing three tacos and a medium drink all for $2.50. For Jordan, the marginal cost of purchasing the third taco would be

A) zero.
B) 20 cents.
C) 75 cents.
D) 80 cents.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What do economists mean when they state that a good is scarce?

A) There is a shortage or insufficient supply of the good at the existing price.
B) It is impossible to expand the availability of the good beyond the current amount.
C) People will want to buy more of the good regardless of the price of the good.
D) The amount of the good that people would like exceeds the supply freely available from nature.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

By scientific method we mean

A) the use of modern electronic testing equipment to understand the world.
B) the dispassionate development and testing of theories about how the world works.
C) the use of controlled laboratory experiments to understand the way the world works.
D) finding evidence to support preconceived theories about how the world works.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Economic analysis assumes that

A) individuals act only out of selfish motives.
B) although individuals are at times selfish and at times unselfish, only their selfish actions may be predicted.
C) people are basically humanitarian, and their actions are, therefore, impossible to predict.
D) changes in the personal benefits and costs associated with a choice will exert a predictable influence on human behavior.

Question 5

The basic ingredients in any economic decision are

A) scarcity and choice.
B) surpluses and shortages.
C) market prices and the use of efficient production methods.
D) needs and wants.

Question 6

Economists make assumptions in order to

A) mimic the methodologies employed by other scientists.
B) minimize the number of experiments that yield no useful data.
C) minimize the likelihood that some aspect of the problem at hand is being overlooked.
D) focus their thinking on the essence of the problem at hand.

Question 7

For the typical student, taking an introductory course in economics should

A) turn the student into an economist.
B) teach the student solutions to most social problems.
C) teach the student how to answer complex social questions.
D) help the student learn to rationally analyze social problems.
E) All of the above are correct.

Question 8

Economic choice and competitive behavior are the result of

A) scarcity.
B) poverty.
C) public ownership of resources.
D) private ownership of resources.

Question 9

Joe and Ed go to a diner that sells hamburgers for $5 and hot dogs for $3. They agree to split the lunch bill evenly. Ed chooses a hot dog. The marginal cost to Joe then of ordering a hamburger instead of a hot dog is

A) $1.
B) $2.
C) $2.50.
D) $3.

Question 10

Which of the following is the best definition of economics?

A) An investigation of the quantities and prices of the various goods produced by the nations of the world.
B) A study of why inflation and unemployment periodically plague the U.S. economy.
C) An analysis of how individuals and societies deal with the problem of scarcity.
D) An examination of the role that money plays in the economy.
E) A study of how goods and services are distributed throughout the world.

Question 11

Economic choice and competitive behavior are the result of

A) basic human greed.
B) poverty.
C) private ownership of resources.
D) scarcity.

Question 12

Which of the following is most clearly consistent with the basic postulate of economics regarding the reaction of people to a change in incentives.

A) Farmers produce fewer bushels of wheat in response to an increase in the price of wheat.
B) People will buy more milk at a price of $2 per gallon than at $1 per gallon.
C) People will buy less gas if the price of gas increases by $.20 per gallon.
D) People will consume more beef if the price increases from $1 to $2 per pound.

Question 13

The basic difference between macroeconomics and microeconomics is that

A) macroeconomics is concerned with the forest (aggregate markets), while microeconomics is concerned with the individual trees (subcomponents).
B) macroeconomics is concerned with policy decisions, while microeconomics applies only to theory.
C) microeconomics is concerned with the forest (aggregate markets), while macroeconomics is concerned with the trees (subcomponents).
D) opportunity cost is applicable to macroeconomics, and the fallacy of composition relates to microeconomics.

Question 14

Which one of the following states a central element of the economic way of thinking?

A) Scarce goods are priceless.
B) Incentives matter--human choice is influenced in predictable ways by changes in personal costs and benefits.
C) The realism of the assumptions is the best test of an economic theory.
D) When deciding how to allocate time, the concept of opportunity cost is meaningless.

Question 15

Modern economics as a field of study is usually thought to have begun with

A) Adam Smith and the writing of The Wealth of Nations .
B) David Ricardo and the writing of The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation .
C) Aristotle and the writing of Politics and Ethics .
D) Moses and the Ten Commandments.

Question 16

According to Adam Smith, individual self-interest

A) is a powerful force for economic progress when it is directed by competitive markets.
B) is a powerful force for economic progress when individuals are wisely directed by a strong central government.
C) is a major factor in retarding the economic progress of humankind.
D) could be either a positive or negative force for economic progress, depending on the moral influences of political leaders.

Question 17

Which one of the following is a positive economic statement?

A) An increase in the minimum wage will reduce employment.
B) The minimum wage should be increased.
C) Social justice will be served by increasing the minimum wage.
D) Thoughtful people oppose an increase in the minimum wage.

Question 18

When a society cannot produce all the goods and services people wish to have, it is said that the economy is experiencing

A) scarcity.
B) shortages.
C) inefficiencies.
D) inequities.

Question 19

Adam Smith believed that if people were free to pursue their own interests,

A) public interest would be served quite well.
B) less would be produced than if altruism were the guiding principle.
C) they would generally apply their talents to unproductive activities that would generate little value to society.
D) they would have little incentive to undertake productive activities.

Question 20

The expression, "There's no such thing as a free lunch," implies that

A) everyone has to pay for his own lunch.
B) the person consuming a good must always pay for it.
C) opportunity costs are incurred when resources are used to produce goods and services.
D) no one has time for a good lunch anymore.

Question 21

Which of the following is true of resources?

A) Resources are inputs used to produce goods and services.
B) Human resources reflect the skills and productive knowledge of human beings.
C) With the passage of time, investment activities can increase the availability of resources.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 22

When economists say a good is scarce, they mean

A) there are only a limited number of consumers who would be interested in purchasing the good.
B) the human desire for the good exceeds the amount freely available from nature.
C) most people in poorer countries do not have enough of the good.
D) the production of the good has no opportunity cost for society.

Question 23

Capital is a term economists use to refer to

A) man-made resources used to produce other goods and services.
B) resources that are available in nature such as mineral deposits.
C) money that is used to consume goods and services, to distinguish it from money that is saved.
D) the value of the best alternative to an action.

Question 24

If scarcity were eliminated,

A) all goods would be free.
B) no one would have to make any choices.
C) everyone could have all they want at no cost.
D) all of the above are true.

Question 25

Some individuals or families can become completely saturated with a service such as television. This suggests that

A) wants are limited
B) desires for a single commodity can be satisfied but then the focus will switch to other goods and services
C) a highly productive economy may someday be able to satisfy all human desires
D) resources are not truly fixed in supply as we generally assume
E) scarcity does not exist

Question 26

In economics, man-made resources such as tools, equipment, and structures that are used to produce other goods and services are referred to as

A) consumer goods.
B) capital.
C) marginal goods.
D) infrastructures.

Question 27

When economists say goods are scarce, they mean

A) consumers are too poor to afford the goods and services available.
B) consumers are unwilling to buy goods unless they have very low prices.
C) goods are generally freely available from nature in most countries.
D) the desire for goods and services exceeds our ability to produce them with the limited resources available.

Question 28

Economics is primarily the study of

A) why people like to make money.
B) the management of a business.
C) the choices people make as the result of scarcity.
D) how to make money in the stock market.

Question 29

If a good is scarce,

A) there will be shortages of it if the good is rationed by markets.
B) the good will have a price in a market setting.
C) there will be enough of the good freely available from nature to satisfy the human desire for it.
D) all of the above are true.

Question 30

The three major categories of resources are

A) human resources, physical resources, and natural resources.
B) scarce resources, capital resources, and abundant resources.
C) financial resources, global resources, and local resources.
D) common resources, private resources, and capital resources.

Question 31

Economics is primarily the study of

A) how to make money in the stock market.
B) how to operate a business successfully.
C) the allocation of scarce resources in an effort to satisfy wants that are virtually unlimited.
D) the methods business firms use to reduce their costs of production.

Question 32

Criteria for rationing goods and resources must be established because of

A) scarcity.
B) the use of capitalism as the method of economic organization.
C) the inability of politicians to develop efficient forms of economic organization.
D) shortages resulting from government inefficiency.

Question 33

Every economy must ration goods in some way because of

A) overpopulation.
B) poorly-performing markets.
C) the income gap between rich and poor.
D) scarcity.

Question 34

Scarcity implies that

A) consumers are too poor to afford the goods and services available.
B) consumers are willing to purchase more of a good at the current price than suppliers are willing to produce.
C) it is impossible to completely fulfill the desire for goods and services with the limited resources available.
D) consumers would be willing to buy the same quantity of a good at a higher price.

Question 35

In economics, the term "scarcity" refers to the fact that

A) everything really worthwhile costs money.
B) even in wealthy countries like the United States, some people are poor.
C) no society can produce enough to satisfy fully the desires of people for goods and services.
D) sometimes shortages of a good arise when its price is set below the market equilibrium.

Question 36

Criteria for rationing goods and resources must be established because of

A) the law of comparative advantage.
B) the use of capitalism as a form of economic organization.
C) the inability of politicians to develop efficient forms of economic organization.
D) scarcity imposed by nature.

Question 37

Economics is primarily the study of

A) how individuals make choices because of scarcity.
B) how to succeed in business.
C) how to make money in the stock market.
D) how the values and preferences of people are formed.

Question 38

Which of the following best describes the difference between an objective concept and a subjective concept?

A) A subjective concept is a fact based on observation that is not subject to personal opinion, while an objective concept is based on personal preferences and value judgments.
B) An objective concept is a fact based on observation that is not subject to personal opinion, while a subjective concept is based on personal preferences and value judgments.
C) A subjective concept relates to issues in microeconomics, while an objective concept relates to issues in macroeconomics.
D) An objective concept can only be illustrated in words, while a subjective concept can usually be illustrated with a graph.

Question 39

Ex-London School of Economics student Mick Jagger sang, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find you can get what you need." Another statement of the basic economic principle expressed in this lyric is that

A) rational decisions are not always possible.
B) you can allocate your resources to what gives you the highest value.
C) you can create the supply to meet your own demand.
D) you can maximize social welfare by making optimal decisions.

Question 40

When a good is scarce,

A) this indicates that producers are withholding output so they can raise the price of the good.
B) some method must be used to allocate the good among users.
C) price is one way to ration the good.
D) both b and c are correct.
E) all of the above are correct.

Question 41

During a war, governments will sometimes draft people, most of whom are presently employed, into the army. An economist, computing the real cost of the war, would be sure to include which of the following items?

A) the value of the civilian goods no longer produced by the new soldiers
B) the cost of feeding and clothing the new soldiers
C) the dollar cost of the payroll
D) the higher prices of civilian goods due to wartime shortages
E) the cost of transporting the soldiers to combat

Question 42

"There is no such thing as a free lunch." This statement best reflects the fact that

A) consumers are unwilling to pay for a good unless it provides them with value.
B) an opportunity cost is always present when scarce resources are used to produce a good.
C) it generally requires enormous effort to search out the best place to eat lunch.
D) the value of a good to consumers will decrease as they have more of it.

Question 43

Economic theory

A) is a set of definitions, postulates, and principles assembled in a manner that helps make cause-and-effect relationships clear in economics.
B) is like a guidebook in that it points out what to look for.
C) provides economists with a common language and way of thinking about how the world works.
D) is all of the above.

Question 44

The economic way of thinking is

A) a set of historical generalizations that indicates what goods should be produced.
B) a body of statistical data that indicates how an economy should be organized.
C) a set of basic concepts that helps one understand human choices.
D) a set of complex, highly abstract theories that provides persons skilled in statistics with the information necessary to tell others what choices they should make.

Question 45

Which of the following statements is correct?

A) If the buyer of a good gains, the seller must lose an equal amount.
B) The value of goods is objective; it is equal to the cost of supplying the good.
C) Opportunity costs will always be incurred when scarce resources are used to produce a good.
D) Changes in incentives generally have no effect on human behavior.

Question 46

A fact based on observable phenomenon that is not influenced by differences in personal opinion is called

A) an objective concept.
B) a subjective concept.
C) an unintended consequence.
D) ceteris paribus.

Question 47

Household production is more likely to occur when

A) it requires many specialized resources
B) technology makes it more costly than market production
C) tax avoidance is undesirable
D) less control over the final product is desirable
E) the opportunity cost of household work is relatively small

Question 48

If people willingly give up something (such as money) for a good, then the good is

A) not an economic good.
B) scarce.
C) available in an unlimited supply.
D) a luxury good.

Question 49

Which of the following is part of the economic way of thinking?

A) The accuracy of the assumptions is the best test of an economic theory.
B) When an option becomes more expensive, people will be less likely to choose it.
C) The value of a good can be determined objectively by measuring the amount of labor required for its production.
D) All of the above.

Question 50

Harold, a delivery man, washes and irons his own shirts. Sarah, his boss, sends her clothes to a laundry. Which is the most plausible economic explanation for this difference?

A) Harold must enjoy ironing more than Sarah does.
B) Harold must be better at ironing than Sarah is.
C) The opportunity cost of ironing is greater for Harold.
D) Sarah has a higher opportunity cost of laundering her clothes than Harold does.

Question 51

An opinion based on personal preferences and value judgments is called

A) an objective concept.
B) a subjective concept.
C) an unintended consequence.
D) ceteris paribus.

Question 52

The opportunity cost of an action is

A) the monetary payment the action required.
B) the total time spent by all parties in carrying out the action.
C) the value of the best opportunity that must be sacrificed in order to take the action.
D) the cost of all alternative actions that could have been taken, added together.

Question 53

Which of the following is part of the economic way of thinking?

A) Opportunity costs will always be incurred when scarce resources are used to produce a good.
B) When the cost of an option increases, individuals will be less likely to choose it.
C) In addition to their immediate direct effects, economic actions often generate secondary effects that are observable only after the passage of time.
D) All of the above are part of the economic way of thinking.

Question 54

The opportunity cost of going to college is

A) the total spent on food, clothing, books, transportation, tuition, lodging, and other expenses.
B) the value of the best opportunity a student gives up to attend college.
C) zero for students who are fortunate enough to have all of their college expenses paid by someone else.
D) zero, since a college education will allow a student to earn a larger income after graduation.

Question 55

When price is the rationing criterion, individuals have a strong incentive to

A) ignore the wishes of others when making decisions about how to use their resources.
B) provide services to others in exchange for income.
C) avoid exchanges because in every exchange there will be one person who gains and another who loses.
D) substitute promises for the consistent delivery of a quality product.

Question 56

The expression "There's no such thing as a free lunch" means

A) if one person gains, someone else must lose.
B) each person must pay for exactly what he or she receives.
C) the use of resources to produce a good has an opportunity cost because of scarcity.
D) you cannot have a free lunch at the expense of someone else.

Question 57

To abstract from reality in an economic model means that

A) we include only a few of the essential aspects of reality.
B) the economic study surveys only a very limited period of time.
C) we include only those elements which support our hypothesis.
D) the model includes every aspect of the real world.
E) the model examines the actions of the consumers in the absence of producers and the government.

Question 58

Rational choice requires that opportunity cost be

A) ignored in making a decision.
B) considered for individual choices, but not for societal choices.
C) computed, but not actually used in making a decision.
D) considered as part of making a decision.
E) used as the sole decision criterion.

Question 59

A tradeoff exists between a clean environment and a higher level of income in that

A) studies show that individuals with higher levels of income actually pollute less than low-income individuals.
B) efforts to reduce pollution typically are not completely successful.
C) laws that reduce pollution raise costs of production and reduce incomes.
D) by employing individuals to clean up pollution, employment and income both rise.

Question 60

The highest valued alternative that must be given up in order to choose an option is called

A) opportunity cost.
B) utility.
C) scarcity.
D) disutility.

Question 61

"The money and resources currently being devoted to the War on Terrorism reduces the quantity of other goods that we are able to supply." This statement most clearly illustrates which of the following?

A) the fallacy of composition.
B) the idea that association is not causation.
C) the concept of opportunity cost.
D) the difference between positive and normative economics.

Question 62

For a college student who wishes to calculate the true costs of going to college, the costs of room and board

A) should be counted in full, regardless of the costs of eating and sleeping elsewhere.
B) should be counted only to the extent that they are more expensive at college than elsewhere.
C) usually exceed the opportunity cost of going to college.
D) plus the cost of tuition, equals the opportunity cost of going to college.

Question 63

When economists say an individual displays economizing behavior, they simply mean that she is

A) making a lot of money.
B) buying only those products that are cheap and of low quality.
C) learning how to run a business more effectively.
D) seeking the lowest cost method to accomplish her objectives.

Question 64

Which of the following is most consistent with economizing behavior?

A) If you derive the same satisfaction from eating pizza and eating ice cream, it makes no difference which one of the two you choose.
B) Before voting, you should invest the time and energy to become fully informed on all of the issues and candidates.
C) It never makes sense to hire someone to do something for you that you could do yourself.
D) If you get the same satisfaction from a chicken sandwich and a salad, you should purchase the one that costs the least.

Question 65

Deciding how to make the best use of limited resources to satisfy virtually unlimited wants is known in economics as

A) economizing behavior.
B) the fallacy of composition.
C) ceteris paribus.
D) the fallacy that good intentions do not guarantee the desired outcome.

Question 66

If the government provides free schooling for all students, an economist would say education is

A) a free good, having no cost.
B) scarce even though its cost is paid by taxpayers rather than by students.
C) an example of a good that is no longer scarce.
D) all of the above.

Question 67

In economics the term utility refers to

A) the subjective benefit or satisfaction a person expects to receive from a choice or course of action.
B) the number of possible uses for a resource.
C) the fact that human desire for goods is unlimited while the resources available to meet those desires is limited.
D) the highest valued alternative that must be sacrificed when a choice is made.

Question 68

The benefit (or satisfaction) that an individual expects to derive from an activity is called

A) opportunity cost.
B) utility.
C) marginal cost.
D) scarcity.

Question 69

When an individual weighs her options and makes a choice that maximizes her benefit at the minimum cost, economists refer to this as a process of

A) rational decision making.
B) objective decision making because the value of goods is determined objectively.
C) marginal management analysis.
D) random decision making.

Question 70

"The resources now going into the War on Terrorism and into improved airport security would save more lives if they were invested in medical research." This statement most clearly reflects which of the following?

A) The best test of an economic theory is its ability to predict.
B) There is no such thing as a free lunch--the use of scarce resources always has an opportunity cost.
C) selfishness; if people were not selfish, we could have more of everything.
D) The value of goods can be determined objectively.

Question 71

Doris, a burglar who breaks into houses, decides to break into the house at 265 Elm Street, rather than the house next door because the house next door has a sign in the yard that says "home protected by a security system." To an economist, Doris is

A) making an irrational choice.
B) making a rational choice.
C) not fully considering the personal costs and benefits of her decision.
D) not responding to the incentives she faces.

Question 72

When economists say an individual has made a rational choice, they mean the individual has

A) made the choice by weighing their own subjective costs and benefits.
B) made a "good" decision, one that reasonable outside observers would have also made.
C) neglected to consider the unintended consequences arising from their decision.
D) ignored their own personal interests and made the choice that is best for society.

Question 73

Which one of the following statements is most clearly inconsistent with the economic way of thinking?

A) "If you give a person a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach him to fish, you feed him for life."
B) "If the government provides a good free to citizens, then the opportunity cost of the good is zero."
C) "If you derive the same satisfaction from a hamburger as a chicken sandwich, it makes sense to have the cheaper alternative for lunch."
D) "When it is cheaper to have someone else mow your lawn than to mow it yourself, hiring someone to do the job is consistent with economizing behavior."

Question 74

Which of the following is true?

A) Human choice is generally not influenced by changes in incentives.
B) What is true for the individual must be true for the group as a whole.
C) Using scarce resources to meet one need reduces our ability to meet needs in other areas.
D) The economic way of thinking stresses that good intentions usually lead to sound economic policy.

Question 75

Which of the following is an example of a rational decision?

A) Jim enjoys the feeling of wind in his hair enough to ride his motorcycle without a helmet, even though he fully realizes the potential for injury it creates by not wearing one in the unlikely event he is in an accident.
B) Doris, a burglar who breaks into houses, decides to break into the house at 265 Elm Street, rather than the house next door because the house next door has a sign in the yard that says "home protected by a security system."
C) Brandon, a drug user, chooses to buy his cocaine from Pablo, because Pablo's cocaine is as good as the cocaine from other dealers, but Pablo has lower prices.
D) All of the above are examples of rational choices.

Question 76

When economists say that people choose rationally, this means

A) they gather all relevant information before making their purchases
B) once a pattern of behavior has been established, people tend to become set in their ways
C) people respond in predictable ways to changes in costs and benefits
D) people rarely make errors when they are permitted to make transactions
E) once made, decisions are never reversed

Question 77

A rational decision maker takes an action if and only if

A) the marginal benefit of the action exceeds the marginal cost of the action.
B) the marginal cost of the action exceeds the marginal benefit of the action.
C) the marginal cost of the action is zero.
D) the opportunity cost of the action is zero.

Question 78

Jim enjoys the feeling of wind in his hair enough to ride his motorcycle without a helmet, even though he fully realizes the potential for injury it creates by not wearing one in the unlikely event he is in an accident. To an economist, Jim is

A) making an irrational choice.
B) making a rational choice.
C) not fully considering the personal costs and benefits of his decision.
D) not responding to the incentives he faces.

Question 79

The economizing problem is essentially one of deciding how to make the best use of

A) limited resources to satisfy limited wants.
B) unlimited resources to satisfy limited wants.
C) limited resources to satisfy virtually unlimited wants.
D) unlimited resources to satisfy unlimited wants.

Question 80

Which of the following is most consistent with economizing behavior?

A) If you get the same satisfaction from a hamburger and a fish sandwich, you should purchase the one that costs the most.
B) Even if you know how to paint, hiring someone to do the job is consistent with economizing behavior, if your opportunity cost is high enough.
C) If the government provides a good free to citizens, the opportunity cost of the good is zero.
D) If you get the same satisfaction from going to the opera and going to an art museum, it makes no difference which you choose.