Deck 4: Jobs, Income, and Wealth in Texas

Question 1

Chief Executive magazine has rated which state "best for business" since 2004?

A) California
B) Connecticut
C) Massachusetts
D) Texas

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Dividing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the value of goods and services produced in a year, by the number of workers required to produce it, results in what measure?

A) worker productivity
B) worker pay
C) pre-tax profits of business
D) business net income

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which Texan was Vice President of the United States during Franklin Roosevelt's first two terms as President?

A) Hatton William Sumners
B) Lyndon Baines Johnson
C) John Nance Garner
D) Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Only once in the 20^th century did Texas surpass the national average on per capita personal income (PCPI). When was that?

A) late 1940s
B) early 1970s
C) early 1980s
D) early 2000s

Question 5

In the classic Texas movie Giant, rancher Jordan "Bick" Benedict was played by:

A) John Wayne
B) Rock Hudson
C) Humphrey Bogart
D) Brad Pitt

Question 6

Which producing nation sparked the collapse in the world oil price in 1986 to teach other producers the cost of global surpluses?

A) United States
B) Iran
C) Libya
D) Saudi Arabia

Question 7

Since 1980, the U.S. poverty rate has averaged:

A) 4 to 6 percent
B) 12 to 15 percent
C) 18 to 22 percent
D) 25 to 28 percent

Question 8

The statistic that measures income inequality is the:

A) gini index
B) correlation coefficient
C) nominal index
D) inflation rate

Question 9

On which measure does Texas perform better than the national average?

A) per capita personal income
B) job creation
C) median family income
D) income inequality

Question 10

Which of the following was not a Franklin Roosevelt "New Deal" era program?

A) social security
B) unemployment compensation
C) minimum wage
D) income tax

Question 11

Which state has increased jobs fastest since 1940?

A) California
B) Florida
C) Illinois
D) Texas

Question 12

The Washington-based Corporation for Economic Development ranked all 50 states on its "Assets and Opportunity Scorecard." How did Texas fare in the most recent rankings?

A) 21^st
B) 31^st
C) 41^st
D) 49^th

Question 13

In a non-cash economy, the trading of goods directly, say a calf for a pair of shoes, or several bushels of corn for a saddle, is called:

A) barter
B) shadow banking
C) leverage
D) speculation

Question 14

In 19^th century Texas, women who worked for wages made about what percent of what men working for wages made?

A) one-quarter
B) one-half
C) three-quarters
D) nine-tenths

Question 15

Campbell and Lowe, in Wealth and Power in Antebellum Texas, report that what share of whites engaged in agriculture owned slaves?

A) 10 percent
B) one-third
C) one-half
D) two-thirds

Question 16

Texas made it greatest gains against the national average in per capita personal income in what decades?

A) 1930s and 1940s
B) 1950s and 1960s
C) 1970s and 1980s
D) 1990s and 2000s

Question 17

Houston banker Jesse Jones headed what influential federal agency from 1932-1945?

A) Works Progress Administration
B) Agricultural Assistance Administration
C) Reconstruction Finance Corporation
D) Department of Treasury

Question 18

What caused the Texas economic recession of the late-1980s?

A) rising federal debt
B) cotton price declines
C) high unemployment
D) oil price collapse

Question 19

In 2018, Texas ranked where among the states on median family income? (1=highest, 50= lowest)

A) 44^th
B) 31^st
C) 24^th
D) 11^th

Question 20

The latest census data, from the 20158 American Community Survey, saw that Texas blacks and Hispanics make about what proportion of Anglo median family income?

A) 557 percent
B) 707 percent
C) 80 percent
D) 95 percent

Question 21

The joint federal-state program designed to help workers who lose a job through no fault of their own is:

A) minimum wage
B) welfare
C) unemployment compensation
D) social security

Question 22

In the most recent data2015, 14.79 percent of Texans lived in poverty. What percent of Texas children lived in poverty that year?

A) 12 percent
B) 18 percent
C) 25 percent
D) 35 percent

Question 23

For the last four decades, black and Hispanic poverty rates have run how many times more than Anglo rates?

A) 1.5 to 2 times
B) 2.5 to 3 times
C) 3.5 to 43.5 times
D) 5.5 to 6 times

Question 24

Which of these nations would you expect to have the lowest Gini Index?

A) Swaziland
B) Bolivia
C) United States
D) Germany

Question 25

Which of the following factors would not help Texas achieve a good for business rating?

A) high wages
B) low taxes
C) light regulation
D) thin social services

Question 26

Chief Executive magazine has ranked Texas #1 for business climate every year since 2004, yet the Corporation for Enterprise Development has ranked Texas 41^th for business climate. How do you explain this? What are they measuring and why the different results?

Question 27

For decades, the Texas economy has been judged among the best in the nation for business, yet median family income in Texas has rarely reached the national average. How do you explain this and is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Question 28

What are the plusses and minuses of being a "high wage" economy like Connecticut or a "moderate" to "low wage" economy like Texas?

Question 29

What are Chief Executive magazine and CNBC measuring when they rate Texas #1 among the states for business climate?

Question 30

Explain the average gap of 12 to 15 percent between worker pay and worker productivity in Texas over the last half century. If Texas workers produce more value than U.S. workers, why are they paid less on average?

Question 31

Explain the South's reaction to federal "New Deal" programs like social security, unemployment compensation, and the minimum wage when they were enacted in the 1930s.

Question 32

What is the economic downside of providing generous unemployment compensation benefits to workers who lose a job through no fault of their own?

Question 33

In the 2009 recession, Texas declined additional federal money to expand its unemployment compensation program. What was the rationale for refusing this money?

Question 34

Chief Executive magazine has ranked Texas the "best state for business" every year since 2004.

Question 35

Texas survived the Great Depression of the 1930s better than most states.

Question 36

The Social Security Act of 1935 also established the federal minimum wage.

Question 37

All ten of the state's largest banks failed or were bought out by out-of-state banks during the late-1980s.

Question 38

From 1990 through 2018, the Texas unemployment rate stayed at or below the national unemployment rate.

Question 39

The value created by a worker over some period of time, like a year, is generally referred to as worker _______

Question 40

Texas worker pay has generally run _______ the national average for worker pay.

Question 41

The great East Texas oil field was opened in 1930 when _______ brought in a well named the "Daisy Bradford 3."

Question 42

_______ was governor of Texas in the late-1980s.

Question 43

The family income level at which half of family incomes are below and half above is called _______

Question 44

The joint federal-state program designed to support persons who lose a job through no fault of their own is called _______

Question 45

The statistic that measures income inequality is _______