Deck 4: An Anthropological Approach to Economics

Question 1

The point about the joke about the economist in the pit with the historian and the anthropologist is that economists:

A) are always happy
B) are real climbers
C) make lots of assumptions
D) can't communicate very well
E) believe in holism

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Anyone's assumptions are:

A) based on their own cultural code
B) scientifically based
C) the same as the etic grid
D) someone else's emic system
E) what keeps them from being misled

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Reciprocity means:

A) fair compensation
B) bargaining for a good deal
C) you give as much as you receive
D) there's always a kickback
E) let the buyer beware

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Redistribution is based on:

A) the use of force
B) the power to tax
C) reciprocity
D) kinship
E) agriculture

Question 5

An example of redistribution is

A) Christmas presents
B) graduation presents
C) wedding gifts
D) sales
E) taxes

Question 6

In market exchange, people exchange things for:

A) other things of equal value
B) things of greater value
C) promises to repay later
D) money
E) services

Question 7

A commodity is something that people exchange in:

A) market exchange
B) reciprocal systems
C) systems of taxation
D) barter

Question 8

Exchange value is:

A) what a commodity is useful for
B) how much money a commodity can be sold for
C) the value of the labor it takes to produce a commodity
D) determined by supply and demand
E) all of the above

Question 9

Lisu people produce:

A) corn
B) rice
C) opium
D) pigs
E) all of the above

Question 10

Lisu feed their pigs:

A) Purina pig chow
B) rice
C) opium
D) corn
E) sweet potatoes

Question 11

Lisu keep pigs to:

A) repay war debts to their ancestors
B) pay taxes
C) sell to packing houses
D) eat their surplus corn
E) to use for feasts

Question 12

Lisu people use most of their labor to produce:

A) corn
B) beans
C) rice
D) opium
E) pigs

Question 13

Most of the value they produce is used for:

A) reciprocity
B) subsistence
C) consumer goods
D) opium
E) savings

Question 14

When Lisu sacrifice a pig they are:

A) trying to cure a sick person
B) giving food to other people
C) keeping up with their responsibilities to others
D) participating in reciprocity
E) all of the above

Question 15

Necessary value is the amount necessary to:

A) support a worker
B) keep the corporation in operation
C) make a profit
D) pay the CEO a good bonus
E) pay taxes to the government

Question 16

Labor is a commodity in economic systems organized mainly by:

A) Reciprocity
B) redistribution
C) the market
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 17

When labor is a commodity, its value is determined by:

A) how hard people work
B) how much the people produce
C) the market
D) the value of commodities the people consume
E) the government

Question 18

When labor is a commodity, its value is called:

A) exchange value
B) use value
C) surplus value
D) necessary value
E) market value

Question 19

Profit comes from:

A) the value labor produces above necessary value
B) the stock market
C) interest rates
D) rental rates
E) none of the above

Question 20

Wages are the same as:

A) the value labor produces above necessary value
B) surplus value
C) necessary value
D) rental rates
E) exchange value

Question 21

If people produce more than the value of their own wages, it is called:

A) necessary value
B) surplus value
C) use value
D) exchange value
E) special value

Question 22

The value of all commodities is determined by:

A) the market
B) supply and demand
C) the government
D) the labor they contain
E) what people are willing to pay

Question 23

In systems where labor is a commodity, its value is determined by:

A) the market
B) supply and demand
C) the government
D) the labor it contains
E) what employers are willing to pay

Question 24

A system that is organized by markets is called:

A) socialist
B) communist
C) democratic
D) autocratic
E) capitalist

Question 25

Competition means that:

A) productivity increases
B) wages decrease
C) profits increase
D) surplus value increases
E) all of the above

Question 26

Marginal utility means:

A) the uses you have for the money you borrow
B) the more you have the more you want
C) the more you have the less you need any more
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 27

In systems of household production, people might not welcome new technology because:

A) they are naturally conservative
B) they are traditional and suspicious of anything different
C) because of their cultural codes are not progressive
D) because the costs outweigh the benefits
E) because of their religion

Question 28

All useful things are the product of someone's labor.

Question 29

Justice is not supposed to be a commodity.

Question 30

Sometimes justice is a commodity.

Question 31

Political offices are not supposed to be commodities.

Question 32

Political offices have never been commodities in Illinois.

Question 33

Labor can be a commodity.

Question 34

Use value is quantitative.

Question 35

Exchange value is quantitative.

Question 36

The price of a commodity is the same as its exchange value.

Question 37

Supply and demand determines the prices of commodities.

Question 38

Market forces decide the price of things.

Question 39

To do well on this exam you should answer the questions the way an economist would.

Question 40

Lisu people never hire labor.

Question 41

People in Lisu households do all of the labor to produce everything they need.

Question 42

Lisu people engage in reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange.

Question 43

It is ethnocentric to think of all economic systems involving market transactions.

Question 44

Lisu sponsor feasts to stay equal with everyone else.

Question 45

Economics is not a science.

Question 46

Economics is a religion.

Question 47

Wages equal the value of labor.

Question 48

The value of labor is determined by the market.

Question 49

Productivity increases when the same amount of labor produces more value.

Question 50

As productivity increases, wages increase.

Question 51

As productivity increases, the value of wages decreases.

Question 52

Profit comes from money.

Question 53

Households produce use values.

Question 54

In a system of household production, twice the productivity means half the drudgery.

Question 55

In a system of household production, twice the productivity means twice the product.

Question 56

In systems of household production, people always welcome technology that increases productivity.

Question 57

Labor is naturally a commodity.

Question 58

People in systems of household production always welcome capitalism.

Question 59

The middle class is a myth.

Question 60

List the three elements of any economic system:

Question 61

List the two ways people consume things:

Question 62

List the three main forms of exchange:

Question 63

List the four preconditions for capitalism:

Question 64

Discuss the distinction between use value and exchange value.

Question 65

Discuss the characteristics of the different systems of exchange.

Question 66

Discuss the distinction between necessary value and surplus value.

Question 67

What does it mean to say that the value of labor is the labor it contains?

Question 68

Why do household economies have ceilings on production?

Question 69

Discuss the main differences between firms and households as units of production.

Question 70

Why is it the wrong question to ask: Isn't it better for a woman in a developing country to work for a low wage job than to have no job at all? What is the better question? Why?

Question 71

Why is it important to develop an etic approach to economics instead of an emic one?