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A nation's standard of living is best measured by
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real GDP per person.
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Productivity is the
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key determinant of living standards, and growth in productivity is the key determinant of growth in living standards.
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Which of the following is a correct way to measure productivity?
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Divide the quantity of output by the number of hours worked
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Human capital is the
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knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training, and experience.
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Which of the following is human capital?
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understanding how to use a company's accounting software
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One of the Ten Principles of Economics in Chapter 1 is that people face tradeoffs. The growth that arises from capital accumulation is not a free lunch. It requires that society
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sacrifice consumption goods and services now in order to enjoy more consumption in the future.
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Other things the same, a country that increases its savings rate will have
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higher future capital and higher future real GDP per person.
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Institutions that help to match one person's saving with another person's investment are collectively called the
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financial system
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When a large, well-known corporation wishes to borrow directly from the public, it can
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sell bonds.
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Which of the following statements about the term of a bond is correct?
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Interest rates on long-term bonds are usually higher than interest rates on short-term bonds.
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The economy's two most important financial markets are
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the bond market and the stock market.
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Two of the economy's most important financial intermediaries are
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banks and mutual funds
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We associate the term debt finance with
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the bond market, and we associate the term equity finance with the stock market.
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Northwest Wholesale Foods sells common stock. The company is using
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equity financing and the return shareholders earn depends on how profitable the company is.
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If the tax revenue of the federal government exceeds spending, then the government necessarily
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runs a budget surplus.
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The source of the supply of loanable funds
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is saving and the source of demand for loanable funds is investment
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What would happen in the market for loanable funds if the government were to increase the tax on interest income?
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Interest rates would rise
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If Congress increased the tax rate on interest income, investment
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and saving would decrease
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Suppose the government were to replace the income tax with a consumption tax so that interest on savings was not taxed. The result would be that the interest rate
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would decrease and investment would increase
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If Congress instituted an investment tax credit, the equilibrium quantity of loanable funds would
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rise.
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A larger budget surplus
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reduces the interest rate and raises investment
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An increase in the budget deficit
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makes investment spending fall.
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Crowding out occurs when investment declines because
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a budget deficit makes interest rates rise.
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A person who is not employed and claims to be trying hard to find a job but really is not trying hard to find a job
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is counted as unemployed but should be counted as out of the labor force.
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Data on the unemployment rate in the U.S. since 1960 show that the unemployment rate is
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never zero.
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If the natural rate of unemployment is 5.2 percent and the actual rate of unemployment is 5.7 percent, then by definition there is
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cyclical unemployment amounting to 0.5 percent of the labor force.
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Unemployment that results because it takes time for workers to search for the jobs that best suit their tastes and skills is called
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frictional unemployment.
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Unemployment that results because the number of jobs available in some labor markets may be insufficient to give a job to everyone who wants one is called
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structural unemployment.
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Frictional unemployment results from
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job searching. It is often thought to explain relatively short spells of unemployment
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Frictional unemployment is
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inevitable, because at any given time, jobs are being created in some firms and destroyed in other firms.
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People who are unemployed because wages are, for some reason, set above the level that brings labor supply and demand into equilibrium are best classified as
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structurally unemployed.
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The natural unemployment rate includes
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both frictional and structural unemployment.
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Frictional unemployment can be the consequence of
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workers leaving existing jobs to find ones they like better.
one industry declining while another is growing.
changes in the working conditions offered by competing firms
one industry declining while another is growing.
changes in the working conditions offered by competing firms
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Economists use the term "money" to refer to
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those types of wealth that are regularly accepted by sellers in exchange for goods and services.
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Which of the following is a function of money?
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a unit of account
a store of value
medium of exchange
a store of value
medium of exchange
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You pay for cheese and bread from the deli with currency. Which function of money does this best illustrate?
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medium of exchange
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Any item that people can use to transfer purchasing power from the present to the future is called
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a store of value
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Liquidity refers to
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the ease with which an asset is converted to the medium of exchange
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Which list ranks assets from most to least liquid?
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money, bonds, cars, houses
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When we measure and record economic value, we use money as the
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unit of account.
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Commodity money is
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money with intrinsic value.
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Fiat money
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has no intrinsic value
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M1 includes
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currency.
demand deposits.
traveler's checks.
demand deposits.
traveler's checks.
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Which of the following does the Federal Reserve not do?
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convert Federal Reserve Notes into gold
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The Fed has the power to increase or decrease the number of dollars in the economy through the decisions of
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the FOMC.
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When conducting an open-market sale, the Fed
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sells government bonds, and in so doing decreases the money supply.
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An open-market purchase
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increases the number of dollars in the hands of the public and decreases the number of bonds in the hands of the public.
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If a bank has a reserve ratio of 8 percent, then
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the bank keeps 8 percent of its deposits as reserves and loans out the rest.
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If a bank uses $100 of excess reserves to make a new loan when the reserve ratio is 20 percent, this action by itself initially makes the money supply
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increase by $100 while wealth does not change.
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The money multiplier equals
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1/R, where R represents the reserve ratio for all banks in the economy.
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If the reserve ratio is 10 percent, the money multiplier is
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10.
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As the reserve ratio increases, the money multiplier
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decreases.
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If the reserve ratio is 5 percent, then $1,000 of additional reserves can create up to
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$20,000 of new money.
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When the Fed makes open-market purchases, bank
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deposits and lending increase.
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The discount rate is the interest rate that
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the Fed charges banks for loans.
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If the discount rate is lowered, banks borrow
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more from the Fed so reserves increase.
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The Fed can increase the money supply by conducting open-market
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purchases or by lowering the discount rate
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The Fed can directly protect a bank during a bank run by
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lending reserves to the bank.
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The federal funds rate is the interest rate
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banks charge each other for short-term loans of reserves.
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If the federal funds rate were below the level the Federal Reserve had targeted, the Fed could move the rate back towards its target by
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selling bonds. This selling would reduce the money supply.
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The classical theory of inflation
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is also known as the quantity theory of money.
was developed by some of the earliest economic thinkers.
is used by most modern economists to explain the long-run determinants of the inflation rate.
was developed by some of the earliest economic thinkers.
is used by most modern economists to explain the long-run determinants of the inflation rate.
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To explain the long-run determinants of the price level and the inflation rate, most economists today rely on the
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quantity theory of money.
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When the price level rises, the number of dollars needed to buy a representative basket of goods
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increases, and so the value of money falls.
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The supply of money is determined by
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the Federal Reserve System.
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Economic variables whose values are measured in monetary units are called
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nominal variables.
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The classical dichotomy refers to the idea that the supply of money
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determines nominal variables, but not real variables.
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According to the classical dichotomy, when the money supply doubles, which of the following also doubles?
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the price level
nominal wages
nominal GDP
nominal wages
nominal GDP
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Monetary neutrality implies that an increase in the quantity of money will
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increase the price level.
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The velocity of money is
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the average number of times per year a dollar is spent.
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If M = 4,000, P = 1.5, and Y= 6,000, what is velocity?
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2.25
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According to the assumptions of the quantity theory of money, if the money supply increases by 5 percent, then
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nominal GDP would rise by 5 percent; real GDP would be unchanged.
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The inflation tax refers to
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the revenue a government creates by printing money.
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The inflation tax falls mostly heavily on
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those who hold a lot of currency but accounts for a small share of U.S. government revenue
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The claim that increases in the growth rate of the money supply increase nominal interest rates but not real interest rates is known as the
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Fisher Effect.
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The nominal interest rate is 3 percent and the inflation rate is 2 percent. What is the real interest rate?
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1 percent
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Which of the following helps to explain why the inflation fallacy is a fallacy?
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Nominal incomes tend to rise at the same time that the price level is rising.
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The shoeleather cost of inflation refers to
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the waste of resources used to maintain lower money holdings.
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Which of the following is an example of menu costs?
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deciding on new prices
printing new price lists
advertising new prices
printing new price lists
advertising new prices
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Which of the following are U.S. taxpayers allowed to adjust for inflation for the purpose of income taxes?
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neither interest income nor capital gains.
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You put money into an account and earn a real interest rate of 4 percent. Inflation is 2 percent, and your marginal tax rate is 20 percent. What is your after-tax real rate of interest?
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2.8 percent
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Which of the following is correct? Inflation
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impedes financial markets in their role of allocating resources.
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Wealth is redistributed from creditors to debtors when inflation is
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unexpectedly high.
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Which of the following is most commonly used to monitor short-run changes in economic activity
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real GDP
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Which of the following fall during a recession?
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both retail sales and employment
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During recessions which type of spending falls?
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consumption and investment
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According to classical macroeconomic theory, changes in the money supply affect
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nominal variables, but not real variables.
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Most economists believe that classical macroeconomic theory is a good description of the economy
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in the long run, but not in the short run.
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The model of aggregate demand and aggregate supply explains the relationship between
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real GDP and the price level
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Aggregate demand includes
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the quantity of goods and services households, firms, the government, and customer abroad want to buy.
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Which of the following effects helps to explain the slope of the aggregate-demand curve?
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the exchange-rate effect
the wealth effect
the interest-rate effect
the wealth effect
the interest-rate effect
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If the price level falls, the real value of a dollar
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rises, so people will want to buy more. This response helps explain the slope of the aggregate demand curve.
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As the price level rises
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people will want to hold more money, so the interest rate rises.
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When the price level falls
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the interest rate falls, so the quantity of goods and services demand rises.
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As the price level rises, the exchange rate
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rises, so exports fall and imports rise.
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Suppose a stock market boom makes people feel wealthier. The increase in wealth would cause people to desire
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increased consumption, which shifts the aggregate-demand curve right
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Suppose businesses in general believe that the economy is likely to head into recession and so they reduce capital purchases. Their reaction would initially shift
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aggregate demand left.
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When the money supply increases
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interest rates fall and so aggregate demand shifts right
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Which of the following is not a determinant of the long-run level of real GDP?
answer
the price level
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The long-run aggregate supply curve shifts right if
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immigration from abroad increases.
the capital stock increases.
technology advances.
the capital stock increases.
technology advances.
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According to the aggregate demand and aggregate supply model, in the long run an increase in the money supply leads to
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an increase in the price level but does not change real GDP.
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The aggregate supply curve is upward sloping in
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the short run, but not the long run.
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The sticky-wage theory of the short-run aggregate supply curve says that when the price level rises more than expected,
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production is more profitable and employment rises
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An increase in the expected price level shifts the
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the short-run but not the long-run aggregate supply curve left.
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Which of the following shifts short-run aggregate supply right?
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a decrease in the price of oil
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Which of the following would cause prices and real GDP to rise in the short run?
answer
aggregate demand shifts right
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Recessions in China and India would cause
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the U.S. price level and real GDP to fall.
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An economic contraction caused by a shift in aggregate demand remedies itself over time as the expected price level
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falls, shifting aggregate supply right.
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If there are floods or droughts or a decrease in the availability of raw materials
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output falls in the short run
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Which of the following would cause stagflation?
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aggregate supply shifts left