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Decisions must frequently be made by individuals, organizations, and even nations. Facilitating better decision-making is a fundamental goal of economics. The analytical framework advocated by economists that enables one to make informed decisions is called
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the economic way of thinking.
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A rational, self-interested student decides whether to purchase a textbook required for a particular class based on all of the following, except
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whether the textbook has an attractive dust jacket.
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Rational, self-interested government officials seeking more funding for mass transit through higher taxes should consider
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the fact that raising taxes is generally unpopular and may result in a potential loss in a future election.
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A municipality taxing hotel guests to obtain funding for a new sports stadium should consider all of the following, except
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the winning potential of the sports team using the stadium.
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What is the relationship between wants and resources?
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Resources are used to produce things that satisfy people's wants
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Microeconomics focuses on
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decisions made by individual households and firms.
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Each country has a unique economic system to allocate its scarce resources. However, the economic system of most of the world's nations are a combination of the ________ _________ system and the ________ system.
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central planning; price
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The three fundamental economic questions that a nation addresses in order to allocate society's scarce resources include all of the following:
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A. What and how much will be produced?
B. Why will the items be produced?
C. How will the items be produced?
(NOT For whom will the items be produced?)
B. Why will the items be produced?
C. How will the items be produced?
(NOT For whom will the items be produced?)
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Economics
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assumes individuals are rational and respond to different incentives.
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Economists assume that an individual acts as if motivated by
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self-interest.
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The assumption of bounded rationality suggests that people might use rules of thumb to guide their decision making because
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people can not examine every possible choice available to them.
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The notion that people do not intentionally make decisions that would leave them worse off is known as
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the rationality assumption.
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The hypothesis that people are nearly, but not fully, rational, so that they cannot examine every possible choice available to them but instead use simple rules of thumb to sort among the alternatives that happen to occur to them is known as
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bounded rationality.
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Economic goods are
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goods that are scarce.
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Why do economists avoid making the distinction between wants and needs?
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The term need is subjective making it difficult to distinguish between something someone wants and something they need.
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Scarcity arises because
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resources are finite and are inadequate to meet all human wants.
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"Wants" as an economic concept includes
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both material and non-material desires.
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If you receive a free ticket to a concert, what, if anything, is your opportunity cost of attending the concert?
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The next best activity that can't be done while attending the concert.
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The value of the best alternative sacrificed to obtain something you want is referred to as
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opportunity cost.
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The production possibilities curve shows all possible combinations of
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two goods that can be efficiently produced with a given set of resources.
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All of the following are assumptions of the production possibilities curve except
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there is a fixed demand for the products.
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Which of the following is NOT an assumption used in deriving a production possibilities curve?
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The labor force is growing at a constant rate.
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Current production of capital goods means that
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the production possibilities curve can be expected to shift outward in the future.
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In order for an economy to increase its production possibilities, the economy must
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increase inputs.
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A production possibilities curve will shift outward or to the right for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
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an increase in the unemployment rate.
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The division of productive activities among persons and regions so that no one individual or region is totally self-sufficient is known as
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specialization.
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Canada goes to considerable lengths to protect its television program and magazine producers from U.S. competitors. The United States often seeks protection from food imports from Canada. From an economywide viewpoint, these efforts are
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misguided because the enhanced output from specialization based upon comparative advantage is restricted.
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Comparative advantage is always a _________ concept.
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relative
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Buyers and sellers receive information about what should be bought and what should be produced
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from prices in a market system.
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Which of the following is not an example of a transaction cost?
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The enjoyment of using the good.
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What happens in the market with an upward sloping supply curve when there is a shift in the demand curve due to an external shock?
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A new equilibrium price will be achieved over some period of time.
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People often complain about price gouging after a natural disaster. Suppose the government imposed limitations on price increases in the aftermath of a disaster. One would expect
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reconstruction to take longer because the quantity supplied of new materials would increase more slowly.
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Scarcity implies that
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a way of rationing supplies of goods must be found.
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Given the existence of relative scarcity, resources can be rationed by
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A. queuing, or standing in line
B. a system of prices
C. political mandate
B. a system of prices
C. political mandate
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Import quotas are an example of government-imposed
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quantity restrictions.
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Ron advertised his car for sale for $6000, although he was willing to accept $4000. When he finally sells his car for $5500, his producer surplus from the sale is
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$1500.
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The publication Car and Driver reduces transactions costs for high-performance car buyers
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by providing reliable information so that car buyers do not have to spend as much time doing their own research.
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Buyers and sellers receive signals from markets
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through the price system.
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When supply increases and the (downward-sloping) demand curve remains in the same position,
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price falls and equilibrium quantity rises.
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People often complain about price gouging after a disaster such as a hurricane. Suppose the government successfully prevented price increases due to the disaster. We would expect
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reconstruction to take longer because the quantity supplied of new materials would increase more slowly.
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Prices perform a rationing function by
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allocating goods to the buyers who are willing and able to pay the highest price.
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In economic terms, the total price of a pound of meat for an individual who has waited in line is
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the money price of the meat plus the opportunity cost of time spent waiting in line.
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What is the economic effect of price ceilings?
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An effective price ceiling will lead to a shortage.
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Price ceilings are adopted in most cases because
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the government views the current equilibrium price as too high for consumers.
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Which of the following is a possible outcome of setting a legal maximum rental rate below the market clearing rental rate?
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a black market in rental housing
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Labor is a key input at fast-food restaurants. Suppose that the government boosts the minimum wage above the equilibrium wage of fast-food workers. Which of the following best describes the response of the quantity of labor employed at restaurants?
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Fewer workers will be employed since the wage increase will induce managers to seek to substitute other inputs for the now relatively more expensive labor.
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An import quota is an example of a
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quantity restriction.
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Restricting the quantity of a good that can be imported is likely to mean that the price of that good will
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rise.
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In the United States, the minimum wage is defined as
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the lowest hourly wage rate a firm may legally pay its workers, as legislated by the U.S. government.
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An import quota for sugar results in an increase in
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the domestic market price of sugar.
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The gains from consumer surplus and producer surplus occur when
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both consumers and producers engage in voluntary exchange.