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The need to study economics would cease if
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there were enough resources to produce all the goods and services people would like to obtain
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What is the opportunity cost of taking this exam?
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the highest valued alternative that you gave up to prepare for and attend the exam
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In a growing number of cities, grocery stores are required to charge a fee to customers who use plastic bags. This is an example of which of the following?
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Negative incentive
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The presence of resource scarcity and unlimited human wants means that choices come with which of the following?
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Trade-offs
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The belief that a natural disaster can be good for the economy is an example of which of the following economic fallacies?
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Broken window fallacy
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"I, Pencil" best illustrates which of the following basic economic ideas?
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Spontaneous order
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Which of the following is true regarding water and diamonds for most people?
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The marginal utility of diamonds exceeds that of water
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How are changes in opportunity cost related to decision-making, ceteris paribus?
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The lower the opportunity cost of doing activity X, the more likely activity X will be done
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Kelly is an architect, and she is trying to decide whether to hire Lawrence, a draftsman, to assist with her work. Kelly could hire Lawrence at $20 per hour, but it would take him three times as long to complete a task as it takes Kelly. Kelly is able to earn $90 per hour and has more architectural jobs than she is able to handle. Which of the following is true?
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Lawrence should be hired at the $20 per hour wage rate
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With which of the following statements concerning specialization would Adam Smith be least likely to agree?
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Specialized workers are more likely to enjoy their jobs than unspecialized workers
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Which of the following best summarizes Bastiat's views regarding trade?
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Tariffs on foreign goods require more resources to be spent on things that could be obtained more cheaply elsewhere
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Which of the following best summarizes economists' views regarding trade?
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Some people get hurt by specific trades, but everyone benefits from trade in general
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Which of the following is not necessary for voluntary trade to take place between two parties?
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The gain from trade are equal for both parties
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Two friends, Jerry and Newman, enjoy baking bread and making apple pies. Jerry takes two hours to bake 1 loaf of bread and one hour to make 1 pie. Newman takes four hours to bake 1 loaf of bread and six hours to make 1 pie.
If pies and bread are equally valuable, which of the following statements is true?
If pies and bread are equally valuable, which of the following statements is true?
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Jerry has the comparative advantage in making pies
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Which of the following accounts for why individual supply curves have a positive slope, ceteris paribus?
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The law of increasing opportunity costs
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Which of the following is true, ceteris paribus?
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A decrease in price results in an increase in quantity demanded
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Which of the following can we not infer from an individual's demand curve for a particular good?
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The price she actually pays for the good
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When the price is _____ the equilibrium price, we would expect there to be a _____ , causing the market to put _____ pressure on the price until it returned to the equilibrium price.
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Above; surplus; downward
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The price of Good X increases by 25%, causing the quantity consumed of Good Y to increase by 10%. Assuming ceteris paribus holds, we can say with certainty that Good X and Good Y are:
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Substitute goods
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If the cost of flour increases from $3 to $5 per bag, we would expect the supply curve for bagels to:
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Shift to the left
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If the equilibrium price and quantity for a normal good is $8 and 6 units, respectively, what is one possibility for the new equilibrium price and quantity if the income of buyers falls, ceteris paribus?
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$6 and 4 units
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Suppose that the price of ground beef rises. Which of the following would necessarily happen, ceteris paribus?
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The price change would result in movement along the existing supply and demand curves for ground beef
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Suppose drivers expect the price of gasoline to rise in coming days due to the weather. Which of the following is most likely to happen at present, ceteris paribus?
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The demand curve for gasoline shifts to the right
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Ceteris paribus, an increase in supply:
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Is shown by a rightward shift of the supply curve
Causes a temporary surplus until prices fall
Results in a higher equilibrium quantity
Causes a temporary surplus until prices fall
Results in a higher equilibrium quantity
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Which of the following is true regarding the gains from trade in a market?
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The relative share of the gains from trade will depend on the price elasticity of supply and demand
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What, according to Bastiat, is the difference between a good economist and a bad one?
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Good economists see immediate and foreseeable consequences of actions on all groups, whereas bad economists only see obvious effects
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If a price ceiling is imposed at $12 per unit in a market where the equilibrium price is $15, there will be:
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A shortage
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A binding price floor is:
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A minimum legal price above the equilibrium price
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Suppose that a tax t is implemented in a market with supply and demand curvesthat are neither perfectly inelastic or perfectly elastic. Which of the following must be true?
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The tax creates deadweight loss
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Which of the following statements is true?
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A firm facing an elastic demand curve can increase its revenue by lowering price
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Which of the following is true regarding tax burden in a market?
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A tax will effectively burden both sides of the market
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Suppose the price elasticity of demand in a market is PED = 2. This suggests that a change in price will result in a
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Disproportionately large change in quantity demanded
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Which of the following items is likely to have the most price elastic demand?
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Luxury yachts
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A given demand curve will:
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Have an elastic range, a unit elastic point, and an inelastic range
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If we are only told that a firm earns positive economic profit, what do we know about its accounting profit?
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It is positive because whenever economic profit is positive, so is accounting profit
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A firm earning positive accounting profit will earn
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Positive, negative, or zero economic profit
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Which of the following is an example of an implicit cost?
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A foregone alternative
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A firm earning positive economic profit:
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Is doing strictly better than it could in its next best alternative
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Which of the following best describes the goal of a business firm?
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To maximize economic profit
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As quantity q produced rises, a firm's average total cost ATC and average variable cost AVC will converge. This is because:
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Average fixed costs AFC decrease
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Which of the following is true regarding fixed costs?
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There are no fixed costs in the long run
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A firm should shutdown in the short run if:
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Price is less than average variable cost (P < AVC)
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In a perfectly competitive industry, we would expect all firms to earn economic profits of zero in the long run because of which perfect competition assumption?
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Free entry and free exit
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With which of the following would Israel Kirzner most likely agree?
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Competitive markets are desirable because the competitive process is socially beneficial
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With which of the following would Israel Kirzner likely agree about the model of perfect competition?
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It describes a highly competitive economic process
There can be no real competition if the assumptions of the model hold
There can be no real competition if the assumptions of the model hold
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In perfect competition:
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Firms must sell at the market price
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The demand curve facing a firm in a competitive market is __________, and the demand curve facing a monopolist is __________.
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Horizontal; downward sloping
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In the long run, firms in perfect competition will:
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Produce at the minimum of average total cost
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Why do monopolies generally create deadweight loss?
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They produce a lower quantity than competitive markets
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Which of the following is not a natural barrier to entry?
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A patent gives a pharmaceutical company the exclusive right to manufacture an anti-cancer drug
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Which of the following best describes William Baumol's contestability hypothesis of markets?
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It is impossible to have a monopoly if there are low barriers to entry
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Which of the following is not true regarding price discrimination by a monopolist?
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Price discrimination is always illegal
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Which of the following is necessary for price discrimination to occur?
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The firm must be able to prevent resale of the good
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Two conditions allow a single seller to become a monopolist. Those two conditions are that the firm must
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Have something unique to sell and it must have a way to prevent potential competitors from entering the market
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Which of the following is true regarding monopolistic competition?
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Firms cannot earn long-run economic profits
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Firms in monopolistic competition will be price-setters in the short run due to _____ and price-takers in the long run due to _____.
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Product differentiation; low barriers to entry
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Which of the following is generally true regarding advertising in a monopolistically competitive industry?
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If one firm advertises, all firms will want to advertise
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Due to low barriers to entry, firms in monopolistically competitive markets will generally
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Face increasing competition over time
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Which of the following is true regarding Bertrand competition?
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Firms in Bertrand competition generally have a difficult time colluding to raise price
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Which of the following characteristics describes an oligopoly?
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Only a few firms in an industry
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Consider a duopoly in Cournot competition. Which of the following is true?
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The Cournot duopoly creates deadweight loss
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Being part of a cartel is generally good for a firm because it can reduce output while increasing prices and profits. Yet most cartels have failed. Why is this the case?
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Each member of the cartel faces an incentive to cheat and produce more than the other firms
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One reason that firms may be unable to utilize price discrimination as a viable strategy is because
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It is always illegal to price discriminate
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In a strategic game, a Nash equilibrium is a situation where:
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Neither player has an incentive to deviate, provided nobody else deviates