ECN 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Market Economy, Negative Relationship, Planned Economy

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20 Oct 2017

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Ecn 104 - lecture 1 - limits, alternatives and choices. Economics is the social science concerned with how individuals, institutions and society make optimal choices under the condition of scarcity. Market economy (free will) vs. command economy (planned economy) The opportunity cost of an item-what you must give you in order to get an item you want-is its true cost. How much decisions require making trade-offs at the margin: comparing the costs and benefits of doing a little bit more of an activity versus doing a little bit less. A situation in which individuals cannot make themselves better off by doing something different. Resources should be used efficiently to achieve society"s goals. The standard of living of an average person in a particular country is dependent on its production level of goods and service. If the monetary authority of a country annually print money in excess of growth of output of goods and services, this practice leads to inflation.

Related Questions

1/ All the problems studied in economics arise from

a. the unequal distribution of income

b. the scarcity of resources

c. inappropriate government action

d. overpopulation

e. war

2/ The overall performance of the economic system as a whole is the focus of

a. macroeconomics

b. public economics

c. international finance

d. labor economics

e. microeconomics

3/ After graduating from high school, Steve had the following three choices for his immediate future, listed in order of preference: (1) attend our campus, (2) work in a printed circuit board factory, or (3) attend a rival college. His opportunity cost of going to college here includes which of the following?

a. The income he could have earned at the printed circuit board factory plus the direct cost of attending college here (tuition, textbooks, etc.)

b. The benefits he could have received from going to the rival college.

c. Only the tuition and fees paid for taking classes here.

d. Cannot be determined from the information given.

e. The cost of books and supplies at the rival college.

4/ The question of scarce resources and unlimited wants are addressed in

a. psychology

b. history

c. anthropology

d. political science

e. economics

5/ Consider an economic model designed to analyze the purchasing decisions of households. An assumption that a household chooses between only two goods would be an example of an

a. positive assumption

b. simplifying assumption

c. macroeconomic assumption

d. financial assumption

e. critical assumption

6/ Which of the following explains why economists may disagree over normative issues?

a. They have different beliefs and values.

b. They often employ different statistical techniques when examining data.

c. Some work only on microeconomic issues, while others focus exclusively on macroeconomic issues.

d. They examine the same data to draw their conclusions.

e. They need to disagree to publish their research findings.

7/ Suppose your friends take you out for dinner on your birthday, and you have a much better time than you would have had to do anything else. There is still an opportunity cost, even though they will not let you pay for anything. True/False

8/ Microeconomics

a. addresses scarcity from a global perspective

b. is purely theoretical and has little value in explaining real-world phenomena

c. focuses on what is happening in the economy as a whole

d. examines how individuals, households, and firms make economic decisions

e. answers the fundamental economic questions of how, when, where, and why.

9/ People and organizations have to make choices about how to allocate time and money because

a. religious values conflict with economics

b. time and money are both scarce

c. government require it

d. there are unlimited resources

e. corporations control our lives

10/ The objective of an economic model is to

a. yield a better understanding of important relationships

b. use simplifying assumptions to make positive economic statements

c. be an accurate description of reality

d. predict real-world occurrences with complete accuracy

e. use basic principles of economics to derive fundamental assumptions about human behavior.

jaderaven304

1.The production possibilities frontier can be used to demonstrate which of the following?
(i) The best tradeoffs that individuals and societies should make
(ii) The tradeoffs forced on individuals and societies because of scarcity
(iii) The wealth maximizing output combination that an individual or society should choose

Select one:

a. (ii) only

b. (i), (ii) and (ii)

c. (i) only

d. (iii) only

2. Unlimited wants and limited resources:

Select one:

a. Can be overcome through innovation

b. Are not problems faced by wealthy industrialized nations

c. Necessitate choices about the goods to services to consume

d. Can be overcome by increasing wealth

3. What are the two sub-fields of economics?

Select one:

a. For-profit economics and not-for-profit economics

b. Private markets and the public sector

c. Microeconomics and macroeconomics

d. Market and non-market economics

4. What do economists mean by "self-interested behavior"?

Select one:

a. It means undertaking activities that benefit yourself and a small group of others who are important to you

b. It means undertaking activities motivated by greed

c. It means undertaking activities that maximize one's own welfare

d. It means wanting to pursue a life of leisure

5. When economists say that people act rationally, they mean that:

Select one:

a. People do not make incorrect choices

b. People are governed by what others think about them and act accordingly

c. People consider the significant consequences of their actions and make decisions that further their self-interests

d. There are certain common codes of conduct that everyone adheres to

6. Which of the following actions reflect self-interested behavior?
(i) Warren Buffett, one of the world's wealthiest individuals, donated more than $30 billion to humanitarian causes such as AIDS and tuberculosis initiatives.
(ii) Pfizer Inc., a private pharmaceutical company, sponsored a disease-management program for Florida's Medicaid patients with chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.
(iii) You agree to babysit your 8-year-old brother instead of going to a kick-boxing class.
(iv) You agree to babysit your 8-year-old brother instead of going to a kick-boxing class only if your mother pays you $8 an hour.

Select one:

a. All of the above actions except (iii)

b. All of the above actions

c. (ii) and (iii) only

d. (iv) only

7. Which of the following does not qualify as a market?

Select one:

a. Bloomingdales Department Store

b. The underground drug trade

c. Amazon.com

d. The French Immigration Department

8. Which of the following is not a key assumption of economics?

Select one:

a. People do not undertake activities that make others better off

b. People are self-interested

c. People have limited resources to acquire their wants

d. People are rational

9. Which of the following is not likely to cause the production possibility frontier to shift out?

Select one:

a. An increase in the quantity of innovations

b. An increase in specialization which allows people to develop higher levels of skill at their chosen profession

c. Developing markets where self-interested individuals can interact

d. Relying only on governments to allocate resources

10. Which of the following statements is false?

Select one:

a. Scarcity affects everyone, including very wealthy people

b. Rational people never make mistakes

c. Economists assume people are rational

d. Economists assume people have unlimited desires

11. Which of the following statements is false?

Select one:

a. When you volunteer to help at a soup kitchen, you face an opportunity cost of your time

b. Mother Teresa faced trade-offs when deciding to help lepers in India rather than some other needy group

c. Economics brings tradeoffs to light but does not inform us of which trade-offs society should make

d. When the government funds research into cancer, it is able to avoid trade-offs because public funds are used rather than private funds

12. Which of the following topics does economics study: (i) the study of human behavior; (ii) the market for organ transplants; (iii) cost and benefits of building a suicide barrier in the Golden Gate Bridge; (iv) the functioning of political institutions.

Select one:

a. (i) and (iii) only

b. (ii) and (iii) only

c. All of the topics listed

d. All of the topics except (iv)

13. Which the following would be likely to raise your opportunity cost of going to college full-time?
(i) You have been offered a full-time job as wardrobe assistant to Paris Hilton that pays $60,000 per year.
(ii) You have been offered a merit scholarship that pays for two years of tuition.
(iii) Your landlord increases the rent on the apartment you are currently living in and will continue to live in even if you choose to attend college full-time.
(iv) An increase in the value of your college trust fund set up by your grandfather.

Select one:

a. All of the above

b. (i) and (iii) only

c. All of the above except (ii)

d. (i) only

14. While microeconomics is concerned with the behavior of individuals and firms, macroeconomics:

Select one:

a. Does not make use of "micro" ideas such as opportunity cost or self-interest

b. Is concerned with the performance of entire economies

c. Is concerned with normative matters such as fairness, equality and ethics

d. Is only concerned with government activity

15. You own a Ford car that has lousy gas mileage. You finally trade it for a Hyundai, which is equal in virtually every aspect except that the Hyundai gets much better mileage. What is likely to happen to your gas consumption?

Select one:

a. I get better gas mileage and since the cost of driving has gone down, I will drive more so my gas consumption will remain the same

b. It will fall since I will now use less gas

c. I get better gas mileage and since the cost of driving has gone down, I will drive more so the effect on my gas consumption is indeterminate

d. It will go up since I will now drive more

azurewoodchuck319

Suppose that, instead of taking this test, you could either have worked and earned income or partied and had a pleasurable time. Your opportunity cost of taking the test is the

	a.	forgone working or partying, depending on which was your next best choice.
	b.	forgone work.
	c.	forgone working and partying.
	d.	test because you are taking it.

1 points

QUESTION 2

A trend is

	a.	a measure of closeness on a scatter diagram.
	b.	a general tendency for a variable to rise or fall.
	c.	the maximum value of a variable.
	d.	the difference between the maximum value of a variable and the minimum value of the variable.

1 points

QUESTION 3

A time-series graph measures

	a.	time on the y-axis and the variable or variables in which we are interested on the x-axis.
	b.	time on the x-axis and the variable or variables in which we are interested on the y-axis.
	c.	the value of one variable against the value of another variable.
	d.	the value of an economic variable for different groups in a population at a point in time.

1 points

QUESTION 4

Canada has nationalized health care, so that everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, has some access to health care. Based on this observation, Canada has decided that "everyone, regardless of their ability to pay" is the answer to what microeconomic question?

	a.	Why will we offer health care?
	b.	How will health care be produced?
	c.	For whom will health care be produced?
	d.	What type of health care will be produced and in what quantity?

1 points

QUESTION 5

As a shoe factory adds more workers, shoe production grows, reaches a maximum, and then shrinks. In a diagram that has the number of workers on the horizontal axis and the number of shoes on the vertical axis, the relationship between the number of workers and the number of shoes starts as ________ and then, after the maximum point, is ________.

	a.	positive; negative
	b.	negative; positive
	c.	linear; negative
	d.	positive; linear

1 points

QUESTION 6

Microeconomics includes the study of the

	a.	choices made by individuals and businesses.
	b.	recessions and inflation in the global economy.
	c.	aggregate effects on the national economy.
	d.	reasons why the government changes interest rates.

1 points

QUESTION 7

When Fresh Express Salads decides to mechanically pick all of its lettuce, it directly answers the ________ question.

	a.	when
	b.	for whom
	c.	how
	d.	what

1 points

QUESTION 8

Proponents of cuts in income tax rates argue that when income tax rates are cut, workers have an incentive to increase their work hours. This argument is based on the assumption that

	a.	the opportunity cost of working is negative.
	b.	the marginal cost of each additional work hour is not important to most workers.
	c.	workers are irrational.
	d.	workers make decisions based on the marginal benefit of each hour worked compared to the marginal cost of work.

1 points

QUESTION 9

A choice made by comparing all relevant alternatives systematically and incrementally is

	a.	an opportunity cost.
	b.	a benefit.
	c.	a sunk cost.
	d.	a choice on the margin.

1 points

QUESTION 10

A normative statement

i. can be tested as to whether it is true or false.

ii. is considered negative.

iii. depends on a person's values.

	a.	i, ii, and iii
	b.	iii only
	c.	i and iii
	d.	ii and iii

1 points

QUESTION 11

Normative statements

i. describe how the world is.

ii. describe how the world ought to be.

iii. depend on people's values and cannot be tested.

	a.	iii only.
	b.	i only.
	c.	ii and iii.
	d.	ii only.

1 points

QUESTION 12

In order to determine whether to major in economics, a rational individual compares the ________ of the decision.

	a.	positive benefits and normative costs
	b.	normative benefits and positive costs
	c.	marginal benefit and marginal cost
	d.	opportunity cost and the sunk cost

1 points

QUESTION 13

If x increases whenever y decreases, then x and y are

	a.	positively related.
	b.	negatively related.
	c.	not related.
	d.	related but whether positively or negatively related depends on whether the x variable or the y variable is plotted on the vertical axis.

1 points

QUESTION 14

Rational choice

	a.	is what you must give up get what you want.
	b.	is made by comparing different incentives.
	c.	making the choice.
	d.	provides the answer to only the "how" question.

1 points

QUESTION 15

Scarcity results from the fact that

	a.	choices made in self-interest rare not always in the social interest.
	b.	not all goals are desirable.
	c.	people's wants exceed the resources available to satisfy them
	d.	we cannot answer the major economic questions.

1 points

QUESTION 16

When Delta decides to quit flying to Lithuania, it directly answers the ________ question.

	a.	what
	b.	why
	c.	for whom
	d.	how

1 points

QUESTION 17

A normative statement

	a.	says what is currently believed about the way the world operates.
	b.	depends on someone's values.
	c.	cannot use the word "should."
	d.	must be tested to determine if it is correct.

1 points

QUESTION 18

Which of the following statements best describes the study of economics? Economics studies how

	a.	to organize production so that scarcity does not occur.
	b.	to create incentives so that scarcity does not exist.
	c.	firms make profits.
	d.	we make choices in the face of scarcity.

1 points

QUESTION 19

Which of the following best defines economics?

	a.	Economics teaches how to limit our wants.
	b.	Economics is concerned with prices and quantities of goods and services, both at the individual level and at the industry level.
	c.	Economics helps you earn as much money as possible.
	d.	Economics studies how to choose the best alternative when coping with scarcity.

1 points

QUESTION 20

In economics, cost is ________, and benefit is ________.

	a.	the amount of money that you pay for something; the amount of money that someone else is willing to pay you
	b.	what you are willing to pay on the margin; what the government pays you when you are unemployed or retired
	c.	what you must give up to get something; what you are willing to give up to get it
	d.	the amount of money that you pay on the margin; the amount of money that you receive on the margin

1 points

QUESTION 21

If Jessie studies economics for two hours instead of going to the movies with her friends, then

	a.	the opportunity cost of studying is the missed movie.
	b.	Jessie is ignoring a sunk cost
	c.	Jessie is not responding to any incentives.
	d.	Jesse definitely is making a rational choice.

1 points

QUESTION 22

Going skiing will cost Adam $80 a day. He also loses $40 per day in wages because he has to take time off from work. Adam still decides to go skiing.

	a.	The $80 price of skiing is a sunk cost and so did not affect Adam's decision.
	b.	He loses a total of $120 per day, so his decision is irrational.
	c.	His decision is rational if Adam's marginal benefit of spending a day skiing is greater than his marginal cost.
	d.	Adam's lost $40 per day in wages is a sunk cost and so did not affect his decision.

1 points

QUESTION 23

If a curve falls and then rises, it

	a.	has a maximum.
	b.	has a linear relationship.
	c.	has a minimum.
	d.	has a constant slope relationship.

1 points

QUESTION 24

In 2003, Michael Jordan decided to retire from professional basketball. Which of the following was an opportunity cost of his decision?

	a.	the avoidance of pain and injury from playing one more year
	b.	the time he could spend with his family while retired
	c.	the lost salary from playing one more year
	d.	the value of new employment opportunities that would await him

1 points

QUESTION 25

Which of the following statements is a normative statement?

	a.	Military spending as a percent of government spending decreased by 5 percent in the 1990s.
	b.	Every American household should have health care insurance coverage.
	c.	Welfare reform has decreased the amount the government spends on welfare.
	d.	The price of computers fell last year.

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ECN 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Market Economy, Negative Relationship, Planned Economy

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