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A firm that charges a very low price would be practicing predatory pricing if
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the price would only be profitable if it succeeded in driving a rival out of the market
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The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are likely to oppose mergers
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which threaten to reduce competition
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Economies of scale simply imply (i) a continuously falling AC curve; (ii) a larger output is more efficient than a smaller input
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i and ii
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Setting price equal to marginal cost in a natural monopoly will lead to
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losses for the firm
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One of the clear effects of deregulation was
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lower prices of many services
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Which of the following holds true in a market when the invisible hand functions properly?
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MC=MU=P
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If the marginal utility of a product exceeds its MC, we would want, on efficiency grounds, to
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increase production
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A firm is generating detrimental externalities when
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MSC is greater than MPC
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An appropriate government policy toward negative externalities is to
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impose a tax or fine on the activity that creates the negative externality
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Government often finds it difficult to cope with externalities because
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costs and benefits are difficult to assess in monetary terms
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Public goods are
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valuable socially, not deplettable and often not excludable, and subject to the "free rider" problem
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Without government intervention, public goods would
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not be provided
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A process through which a firm seeks to obtain earnings without contributing to production, thus wasting valuable resources, is known as
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rent seeking
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Moral hazard is best described as
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the presence of insurance increasing the probability of a loss
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A tax system under which an individual pays a higher fraction of his income in taxes at higher levels of income is formally described as
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progressive
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The average tax rate is
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the ratio of taxes to income
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Social security payroll taxes are examples of
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regressive taxation
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An efficient tax is one that raises the desired tax revenue but creates the least possible
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excess burden
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When a tax is imposed on an item, it can generally be said that the incidence of the tax is
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on both the buyer and seller
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Horizontal equity is the concept that
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equally situated individuals should be taxed equally
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On necessities, more of the incidence of a tax is
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borne by the consumer
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Policies that redistribute income
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- reduce the rewards of high-income earners
- raise the rewards of low-income earners
- reduce the incentive to earn high income
- raise the rewards of low-income earners
- reduce the incentive to earn high income
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Tax loopholes serve to
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erode the progressivity of the income tax
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The interest rate is determined by
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the supply and demand of financial capital (loanable funds)
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Firms will borrow to finance capital expansion until the MRP of the investment equals the
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interest payment charged for borrowing
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The market level of rent
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is entirely determined by the demand side
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Marginal land is land
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that is on the borderline of being used or not
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The demand for labor is derived from the
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demand for final-output goods
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The demand for labor is derived demand. Employers hire workers until the
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wage rate equals the marginal revenue product of labor
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A decision to supply labor or not to supply it is also a decision to
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demand or forgo a certain amount of leisure
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The income effect of a wage increase is expected to increase
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demand for leisure
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The price of leisure is the
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wage rate
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The substitution effect of an increase in the wage rate would lead most people to
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supply more labor and demand less leisure
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One reason why nations trade is because
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resources are not equally distributed to all nations
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A country has a comparative advantage over another in the production of widgets if it can produce
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widgets at a lower opportunity cost than can the other country