Deck 21: Finite Few Foodenergywater

Question 1

Economists, environmentalists, and livestock growers alike support corn ethanol.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Recent high oil prices came from rapid economic growth in countries like China and India, whose governments subsidize gasoline and diesel fuel, thereby encouraging wasteful consumption.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Ethanol made from corn is an efficient replacement for gasoline and its production can stabilize soaring prices of both oil and foods.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Americans are more susceptible than Europeans or Japanese to oil cutoffs or price hikes, as we use two and a half times as much energy as they do.

Question 5

Producing oil from the abundant oil sands and oil shale in Canada and the U.S. West is inexpensive and poses few risks to the environment.

Question 6

The underlying reason for the failure of countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions is the fear that such a move will harm their economy.

Question 7

The problem with production of wind energy is that it is expensive to install wind turbines in the sea where there is more wind and that the plants are often distant from urban areas.

Question 8

Roughly one person in seven in the world is hungry, almost all of them in the Global South.

Question 9

"Economic refugees" who leave their countries as a result of food shortages can cause wars.

Question 10

All riparian countries have equal rights, claims, and access to river water and those rights are enforced.

Question 11

________ is slow economic growth and inflation.

A) Secular change
B) Stagflation
C) Agro-imperialism
D) Cap and trade
E) Deflation

Question 12

Overuse of a collective good leads to a/an ________.

A) tragedy of the commons
B) tragedy of the collective
C) public goods shortage
D) increased price
E) decreased price

Question 13

Which of the following was achieved by the Green Revolution of the 1960s?

A) It ended the need for fertilizers and pesticides.
B) It increased the cost of food items.
C) It increased food production by new farming techniques.
D) It drove many farmers out of business.
E) It decreased grain production because of expensive farming techniques.

Question 14

Ironically, a surplus of food leads to lower food prices, and when too cheap for too long can lead to the negative effect of ________.

A) increased profits for farmers and decreased available agricultural jobs
B) increased profits for farmers and decreased food availability
C) increased food availability and an increase in the number of farmers
D) decreased food availability and decreased profits for farmers
E) decreased profits for farmers and driving many farmers out of business

Question 15

Rich countries often use farm ________, which has the effect of increasing the availability of cheap food and decreasing profits and jobs for farmers, especially in developing countries.

A) futures
B) subsidies
C) tariffs
D) quotas
E) controls

Question 16

Which of the following would drive up the cost of food?

A) subsidies
B) excess availability
C) the use of corn ethanol as a fuel source
D) lower petroleum prices
E) the dumping of excess grain supplies into developing countries

Question 17

Of the three problems discussed in the chapter (food, energy, and water), which is/are the strategic variable(s)?

A) food
B) food and energy
C) energy
D) food and water
E) water and energy

Question 18

Which factor contributed to the dramatic rise in oil prices between 2002 and 2008?

A) deteriorating demand
B) leveling off of demand and increased supply
C) decreased supply and decreased demand
D) BP Gulf oil spill
E) climbing demand and leveling off of supply

Question 19

What does a "spike" in oil prices mean?

A) a sudden sharp decline in prices
B) a sudden sharp increase in prices
C) a sudden sharp decrease followed by a small increase in prices
D) a prolonged increase in prices
E) a sudden sharp increase followed by similar decrease in prices

Question 20

Thomas Malthus famously argued that the world would get to a point of not being able to sustain its population because ________.

A) population growth is too rapid
B) population growth occurs at a constant rate and food supplies grow at an exponential rate
C) population growth occurs at an exponential rate and food supply growth occurs at a constant rate
D) population growth will outpace energy growth
E) population growth will outpace water availability

Question 21

Malthus has, so far, been proven wrong because he ________.

A) failed to take into account decreased supplies
B) failed to take into account increased supplies and technological change
C) overestimated the rate of population growth
D) underestimated the rate of population growth
E) failed to take into account technological change and overestimated the rate of population growth

Question 22

Why has generating solar energy as an alternative to fossil fuels not been successful so far?

A) Machines to capture it break or salt up.
B) Environmentalists have protested the pollution it causes.
C) Massive subsidies to solar projects have led to oversupply and firms have gone bankrupt.
D) It is impractical for domestic use.
E) It is not possible to produce solar energy on a large scale.

Question 23

Which of the following is the most likely scenario pertaining to the energy problem facing the United States?

A) Technological fixes will easily remedy the many drawbacks to alternative energy.
B) High natural gas prices will reduce investment in renewable energy.
C) Fossil fuel prices will fall to pre-1960 levels.
D) Renewable energy will not be pursued if fossil fuel prices are reasonable.
E) Renewable energy will be pursued if fossil fuel prices fall.

Question 24

One way to cut individuals' consumption of oil is to ________.

A) decrease gasoline taxes
B) increase gasoline taxes
C) adopt a cap and trade policy
D) enforce the Kyoto Protocol
E) reduce the price of gasoline

Question 25

Which of the following is a claim made by oil experts?

A) There is plenty of oil in the world, but it is getting expensive to extract.
B) There is not much oil in the world left to be found.
C) There are plenty of big "easy oil" fields waiting to be discovered,
D) The difficult "tough oil" fields yield oil that is too expensive to ever extract.
E) There is still an abundance of desirable "light sweet crude."

Question 26

Which of the following is true?

A) Ethanol from corn is efficient.
B) Biofuels help to hold down carbon dioxide emissions.
C) Power-generating by natural gas is costlier than coal in the United States.
D) Coal is the cheapest way to generate power in most parts of the world.
E) Oil sands in Canada and oil shale in the U.S. West are scarce.

Question 27

What causes water scarcity?

A) a shift in the distribution and cleanliness of fresh water
B) a decrease in the volume of water on earth
C) an increase in desalinated water
D) an increase in the volume of water on earth
E) a decrease in the number of dams

Question 28

______ refers to the system that incentivizes energy producers to watch their carbon output by imposing a limit on carbon dioxide emissions, where energy producers would have to buy unused carbon emissions from other energy producers once they exceeded the limit.

A) Cap and trade
B) Carbon sanctions
C) Carbon emissions limit system
D) Carbon emissions cap policy
E) Tax and trade

Question 29

Which of the following closely reflects most economists' perception of water?

A) Water is underpriced and cannot be rationally allocated.
B) Water is so abundant that it should be free everywhere.
C) Water is so scarce that governments should set prices for it.
D) Water is overpriced and cannot be rationally allocated.
E) Water is underpriced and can be rationally allocated.

Question 30

What gives oil many oil exporters an undue advantage over U.S. and European economic and foreign policies?

A) cyclical changes
B) climatic changes
C) higher technology
D) sovereign wealth funds
E) cap and trade system

Question 31

What is a collective goods problem? How does this relate to the tragedy of the commons? Why are environmental issues prone to fall into these traps?

Question 32

Provide a brief summation of the causes of the food problem, as discussed in this chapter. What are the consequences of this problem? Are there any solutions to address this problem? If so, are they without consequences of their own? Explain.

Question 33

What is the energy problem and what are its causes and consequences?. Which potential solution do you find most promising? Discuss at least three alternative solutions and why they are not as good as the one you are advocating.

Question 34

Provide a brief summation of the water problem. What are the various sources of this problem? What are the consequences? Is there hope for solving this problem or not? Utilize examples in your answer.

Question 35

How are the problems of food, energy, and water related? In other words, how does one problem increase or decrease the other problems? Explain the underlying logic of these intricate relationships. How are all of these problems related to climate change?

Question 36

Of the three problems discussed in the chapter (food, energy, and water), which do you think is the most difficult to solve? Why is this particular problem harder to solve than the others? Will solving this problem help address the other two? Why or why not?