Deck 1: History and Philosophy of Economics Economic Theory and Thinkers

Question 1

The word economics derives from an early Greek term that means management of a:

A)business.
B)government.
C)househo
D)financial institution.
E)industry.

Answer 1

househo

Question 2

The cliché that "the punishment should fit the crime" originated in the writings of:

A)plato.
B)thomas aquinas.
C)jeremy bentham.
D)david hume.
E)thomas hobbes.

Answer 2

jeremy bentham.

Question 3

The notion that communism should be imposed on a nation's rulers so that they would neither be tempted by possessions nor diverted from the task of wise governance was proposed by:

A)plato.
B)xenophon.
C)aristotle.
D)protagoras.
E)adam smith

Answer 3

plato.

Question 4

In his description of an idealized city-state, Plato did not advocate:

A)class-specialization.
B)self-regulation of markets.
C)fiat money to facilitate exchange.
D)that all philosopher king rulers embrace communist styles of living.

Question 5

The ancient Greek philosopher who tried to analyze isolated (one-on-one) exchange because markets with standardized products were relatively rare during his era was:

A)plato.
B)aristotle.
C)eucl
D)protagoras.

Question 6

Of the following, the thinkers who viewed markets most favorably and who would consequently have been least likely to condemn payments of interest as immoral or unjustified by productivity would have been:

A)richard cantillon and françois quesnay.
B)aristotle and plato.
C)thomas aquinas and albertus magnus.
D)ibn kaldur and abu hamid al-ghazali.

Question 7

Medieval scholastics, early Islamic thinkers, and Aristotle all agreed that:

A)the accumulation of gold within a nation-state would eventually offset any trade surplus.
B)payments of interest [usury] should be prohibited.
C)commerce was modeled on a circular flow.
D)surpluses are enhanced through skilled management.

Question 8

What early philosopher described this type of developmental cycle: people move from a rural, nomadic society with little economic surplus to an agricultural society with greater economic surplus and population growth?:

A)physiocrat quesnay who said the production from land created a surplus known as the net product.
B)non-western philosopher ibn khaldun.
C)non-western philosopher abu hamid al-ghazali.
D)thomas malthus, who came up with a theory on population.

Question 9

The concept of a "just price" that condemned market forces for yielding unjust results was developed in the writings of:

A)antoine augustin cournot.
B)fabius maximus.
C)karl marx.
D)demosthenes.
E)thomas aquinas.

Question 10

Nationalism, self-sufficiency, and imperial power were central concerns of:

A)french physiocrats.
B)thomas malthus.
C)mercantilists.
D)adam smith.
E)neoclassical economists.

Question 11

Supernatural power, divinity, and gifts of nature are integral to the explanations of economic events developed by:

A)physiocrats.
B)german historicists.
C)modern monetarists.
D)mercantilists.
E)keynesians.

Question 12

The French Physiocrats believed land was the only thing that could produce a net product, this net product was the surplus generated from land. Physiocrats concluded that a reasonable measure of a society's net product is:

A)the number of houses built in one year.
B)land rent.
C)rent paid to landlords by people living in apartments.
D)the amount of taxes collected in one year.

Question 13

Management of the economy via extensive regulations and laws specified by the national government is most consistent with:

A)syndicalism.
B)mercantilism.
C)communism, the next stage after a marxist "dictatorship of the proletariat.
D)classical liberalism.

Question 14

The concept of _____ was illustrated by _____ with the quote, "The loss of a little finger would keep the average European from sleeping that night, ... but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the loss of millions of his brethren."

A)opportunity cost; john maurice clark
B)self interest; adam smith
C)scarcity; thorstein b. veblen
D)social security; george bush

Question 15

The first comprehensive work on economics written in English was authored by Adam Smith in 1776 and entitled "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the:

A)laws of supply and demand."
B)wealth of nations."
C)movements of prices in competition."
D)incomes of different social classes."

Question 16

Adam Smith's theory of economic growth relies upon a ________ to kick-start the process, and then _________ to continue it.

A)higher wages./ the wages fund.
B)division of labor/ higher wages.
C)explosive population growth / economies of scale.
D)division of labor / capital accumulation.

Question 17

Social welfare is maximized when a "hedonistic calculus" regulates all human action according to the interventionist "liberal":

A)john stuart mill.
B)thorstein veblen.
C)milton friedman.
D)jeremy bentham.

Question 18

The theory that in equilibrium, workers' wages will barely be adequate for biological needs is known as the:

A)labor theory of value.
B)convergence hypothesis.
C)subsistence theory of wages.
D)indicative planning model.

Question 19

According to Karl Marx, the properties that distinguish commodities do not include:

A)useful.
B)produced by human labor.
C)offered for sale in the market.
D)inseparable from the individual that produced them.

Question 20

The Marxist concept of surplus value would not include income received in the form of:

A)wages.
B)rent.
C)interest.
D)corporate profits.
E)proprietor profits.

Question 21

According to Karl Marx, revolution would inevitably come from the oppressed workers, known as the:

A)proletariat.
B)patricians.
C)bourgeoisie.
D)panacea.
E)petit bourgeoisie.

Question 22

Which of the following was a belief shared by utopian and scientific socialists?

A)the labor of the middle class determines the value of a product.
B)class struggle is the necessary means to achieve social change.
C)private property should be abolish

Question 23

Which of the following characteristics is least representative of socialism?

A)personal profits are derived through market competition
B)it includes private ownership of the means of production
C)it involves centralized decision making
D)it includes the pursuit of collective goals

Question 24

Who was the social theorist that proposed socialism should serve as an intermediate stage on the way to an ideal communist society

A)karl marx
B)william domhoff
C)erik wright
D)wright mills