ECON 208 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Arbitrage, Profit Motive, Social Cost
ECON 208 Full Course Notes
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1) Which of the following transactions would be included in GDP?
a) The purchase of a Monet painting.
b) The purchase of paper clips.
c) The purchase of Telstra shares.
d) The purchase of a used car.
2) Economics is the study of
a) the choices everybody makes to attain their goals, given their scarce resources.
b) supply and demand.
c) how to make money in a market economy.
d) how to make money in the stock market.
3) The economy is considered to be at full employment when
a) all unemployment is voluntary.
b) all unemployment is frictional or structural.
c) there are no unemployed workers.
d) there are more unemployed workers than job vacancies
4) An example of an intermediate good would be
a) a can of cool drink sold by a super‐market.
b) a microwave used at home.
c) the bread that goes into a sandwich sold by a lunch bar.
d) the petrol purchased by consumers for their cars
5) From 2004 to 2005, the CPI for medical care increased from 260.8 to 272.8. What was the inflation rate for medical care?
a) 12 percent
b) 11.1 percent
c) 4.9 percent
d) 4.6 percent
6) A shift outwards of the nation's production possibility frontier can occur from
a) a reduction in unemployment.
b) an increase in the size of the labour force.
c) a change in the amounts of one good desired.
d) a natural disaster like a hurricane or severe earthquake
7) What assumptions about humans do economists make?
a) People are greedy and selfish.
b) None, because economics takes humans as given.
c) People are rational and respond to incentives.
d) Humans prefer to live in a society that values fairness above all else.
8) The labour force is the
a) a number of people employed minus the number of people unemployed.
b) ratio of the number of people employed by the number of people unemployed.
c) ratio of the number of people employed to the working-age population.
d) the number of people employed plus the number of people unemployed.
9) The production possibility frontier shows
a) attainable combinations of two products that may be produced with available resources.
b) the various products that can be produced now and in the future.
c) what an equitable distribution of products among citizens would be.
d) the rate of substitution between capital and labour.
10) Which of the following transactions would be included in the official calculation of GDP?
a) Bridgestone sells $2 million worth of tyres to General Motors Holden
b) You illegally download music off the Internet to put on your new iPod.
c) A new iPod.
d) A student buys a used textbook at the bookstore.
11) What are the three fundamental questions that any economy must answer?
a) What will be the prices of goods, how will these goods be produced, and who gets them?
b) What will be the prices of goods, what will be produced, and who gets them?
c) What will be produced, how will these goods be produced, and who gets them?
d) How much will be saved, what will be produced, and how can these goods be fairly distributed?
12) If the nominal interest rate is 6% and the inflation rate is 2%, then the real interest rate is
a) 3%.
b) 2%.
c) 4%.
d) 8%.
14) Suppose that a very simple economy produces three goods: movies, burgers, and bikes. Suppose the quantities produced and their corresponding prices for 2004 and 2009 are shown in the following table:
| 2004 | 2009 | |||
| Quantity | Price | Quantity | Price | |
| Movies | 20 | $6 | 30 | $7 |
| Burgers | 100 | $2 | 90 | $2.5 |
| Bikes | 3 | $1000 | 6 | $1100 |
What is real GDP in 2009, using 2004 as the base year?
a) $3690
b) $7035
c) $6360
d) $3320
15) If the production possibility frontier is graphed as a straight line, what does this mean?
a) Opportunity costs are constant as production shifts from one product to the other.
b) It is easy to efficiently produce output.
c) Nothing, there is no significance of a straight line production possibility frontier.
d) Opportunity costs are increasing as production shifts from one product to the other.
16) If you have both an economics exam and a management exam tomorrow, but find that you have time to fully study for only one of them, what are you facing?
a) A failing grade in both exams
b) A zero opportunity cost
c) A trade‐off
d) An impossible situation
17) Which of the following is a problem inherent in centrally planned economies?
a) Production managers do not satisfy consumer wants but the government's orders.
b) Too much production of low‐cost, high‐quality goods and services.
c) There are no problems, everyone, including consumers are satisfied.
d) None of these describe the problem inherent in a centrally planned economy.
18) Inflation is an increase in the
a) average hourly wage rate.
b) general price level in the economy.
c) the overall level of economic activity.
d) rate of growth of GDP.
19) Total production in the economy is measured as the
a) dollar value of all final goods and services produced in the economy.
b) the total number of services produced in the economy.
c) the total number of goods produced in the economy.
d) the total number of goods and services produced in the economy.
20) An increase in the price of dairy products produced domestically will be reflected in
a) Both the GDP deflator and the consumer price index.
b) Neither the GDP deflator nor the consumer price index.
c) The GDP deflator but not in the consumer price index.
d) The consumer price index but not in the GDP deflator.
21) The reason that opportunity cost arises is that
a) money has proven to be an inefficient means of facilitating exchange in a market.
b) sometimes there are no alternative decisions that can be made.
c) resources are limited at any point in time. d) people have unlimited wants.
21) You have an absolute advantage whenever you
a) are better educated than someone else.
b) can produce something at a lower opportunity cost than others.
c) can produce more of something than others with the same resources.
d) prefer to do one particular activity.
22) Which of the following is an example of a worker experiencing cyclical unemployment?
a) A Freightliner employee who was sacked because of a recession.
b) A worker who quits his job because he does not get along with his boss
c) A worker that changes jobs to move closer to her family.
d) An assembly line worker who loses his job because of automation.
23) A company named Home Depot sells new and used doors to contractors who build new homes. Home Depot also sells new and used doors to home‐owners. Which of the following would be counted in GDP?
a) The sale of a used door to a home‐owner
b) The sale of a used door to for construction for installation into a new home.
c) The sale of a new door to for construction for installation into a new home.
d) The sale of a new door to home‐owner.
24) If you buy shares, the dollar value is
a) not included in GDP.
b) included in GDP under consumer expenditure.
c) included in GDP as a business expense.
d) included in GDP under-investment.
25) During the 1930s, Australia and other industrialised countries experienced the Great Depression with a large number of workers and factories unemployed.Which of the following points on a production possibility frontier model would represent this experience?
a) A point on the frontier
b) A point inside the frontier
c) An increase in the opportunity cost of the substitution between capital and labour
d) A point outside the frontier
26) How is the decision about what goods and services will be produced made in a market economy?
a) The government decides on what will be produced.
b) Producing firms decide to produce only what the firms' owners say must be produced.
c) By consumers, firms, and government choosing which goods and services to buy.
d) What will be produced is determined by what society needs the most.
27) In the country of Shem, the CPI is calculated using a market basket consisting of 5 apples, 4 loaves of bread, 3 robes and 2 gallons of gasoline. The per‐unit prices of these goods have been as follows: Using 2002 as the base year, what was the inflation rate between 2003 and 2004?
a) 28.5 percent
b) 34.2 percent
c) 47 percent
d) It is impossible to determine without knowing the base year.
28) Given the following information, calculate the unemployment rate: Full‐time employed = 80 Part‐time employed = 25 Unemployed = 15 Discouraged workers = 5 Members of underground economy = 6 Consumer Price Index = 110
a) 18.8 per cent.
b) 12.5 per cent.
c) 16.7 per cent.
d) 25 per cent.
29) If the quantity of resources available is fixed, as more of a good is produced, the opportunity cost of producing it increases. The most probable reason for this is that
a) as more of a good is produced, the quality of technology available to produce additional units declines.
b) the price of the inputs used to produce the good will rise.
c) consumers are unwilling to pay higher prices to cover the increases in production costs.
d) resources are not equally well‐suited to producing all goods.
30) Which of the following is a normative statement?
a) The current high price of petrol is the result of strong worldwide demand.
b) The price of petrol is too high.
c) Larger vehicles always use more fuel per kilometre than smaller vehicles
d) The supply of petrol has not been able to meet the demand for petrol.
31) Transfer payments are not included in GDP because
a) they do not generate income.
b) their market value is difficult to measure.
c) they are not purchases of goods or services.
d) their value is included in government expenditure.
32) The opportunity cost of going to your economics class
a) depends on the cost of your transport getting to class.
b) is equal to the highest value of alternative use of the time.
c) is zero because there is no admission charged if you are enrolled in the class.
d) depends on the salary of the lecturer.
33) Establishing employment agencies that speeds up the process of matching unemployed workers with unfilled jobs are an attempt to lower
a) cyclical unemployment.
b) seasonal unemployment.
c) structural unemployment.
d) frictional unemployment.
34) Suppose that money GDP for 2009 was $15 000 billion and the price index was 150 and in 2010 money GDP was $17 050 billion with a price index of 155. What is the rate of economic growth?
a) 5%
b) 10%
c) 2%
d) 1%
35) An individual has a comparative advantage in activity whenever she
a) also has an absolute advantage in that activity.
b) can perform the activity at a lower opportunity cost than another person can.
c) can do everything better than everyone else can.
d) can do the activity in less time than anyone else.
36) GDP is not a perfect measure of wellbeing because
a) GDP is adjusted for increases in drug addiction.
b) GDP is not adjusted for the effects of pollution.
c) GDP is adjusted for changes in crime.
d) the value of leisure is included in GDP.
37) What does an entrepreneur do in a market economy?
a) Organise the factors of production in a working unit.
b) Stand to lose the personal funds provided.
c) Develop the vision for the firm and ensure funding for the firm.
d) An entrepreneur does all of these things.
38) An example of a transfer payment is
a) the purchase of a new government office block.
b) a teacher's pay is transferred electronically from the government to the teacher.
c) interest repayments on a loan.
d) an unemployment benefit.
39) Which of the following is a microeconomics question?
a) What will be the level of total production in the national economy?
b) How much income will be saved and how much will be spent on consumer goods?
c) What factors determine the price of computers in the market?
d) Why is the rate of unemployment rising?
40) The measure of production that values production using current prices is called
a) value-added GDP.
b) nominal GDP.
c) black economy GDP.
d) real GDP.
41) Which of the following causes the official measure of the unemployment rate to understate the true extent of joblessness?
a) People who collect unemployment benefits report themselves to be searching for a job.
b) Discouraged workers are counted as unemployed.
c) Discouraged workers are not counted as unemployed.
d) Many full-time workers really want to be part-time workers.
42) A production possibility frontier will shift inwards if
a) inefficiency in production processes arise.
b) there is an increase in the rate of unemployment.
c) productive resources are destroyed due to war.
d) all of these options are correct.
43) Structural unemployment would increase when
a) discouraged workers drop out of the workforce.
b) the economy enters a recession.
c) the number of individuals who quit their job to find another increase.
d) workers are replaced by machines and the workers do not have the skills to perform new jobs.
44) The 2005 CPI was 196 and the 1982 CPI was 96.5. If your parents put aside $1,000 for you in 1982, how much would you have needed in 2005 in order to buy what you could have bought with the $1,000 in 1982?
a) $1,834.20
b) $2,031.09
c) $2,308.89
d) None of the above is correct.
45) What is an economic model?
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. |
