Chapter 6
Political Economy Multiple-Choice
1. Majority rule voting
A) requires a simple majority greater than half the voters.
B) requires that rules of order be established.
C) does not occur in democracies.
D) can only be applied to single issues.
Ans: a
2. With multiple-peaked preferences,
A) a unique political equilibrium does not exist.
B) all individuals have a point that is most preferred.
C) the law of transitivity is violated.
D) all of the above.
Ans: d
3. Logrolling is
A) a system ud often at lumberjack contests.
B) a system that will always lead to worthy projects getting funded.
C) a system that involves the trading of votes.
D) a system that generally involves double-peaked preferences.
E) all of the above.
Ans: c
4. Rent eking involves
A) finding reasonable rent rates.B) price floors.C) price ceilings.
D) citizen groups lobbying elected officials to manipulate government policy.
E) none of the above.Ans: d
5. Special interest groups are established on the basis of
A) sources of labor.B) size of income.
C) sources of income.D) region.E) all of the above.
Ans: e
6. When each individual has consistent preferences, but tho of the community are not consistent, it is known as
A) agenda manipulation.B) majority rule.C) voting paradox.
D) logrolling.E) independence of irrelevant alternatives.
Ans: c
7. In a reprentative democracy, there are
A) elected politicians.B) public employees.C) special interests.D) all of the above.
Ans: d
8. A person prefers large and small levels of national defen to medium-sized levels of national defen. This person
A) is violating the law of transitivity.B) has single-peaked preferences.
C) has multiple-peaked preferences.D) can not achieve his or her most-preferred outcome.
Ans: c
9. It is stated that, in democracy, every vote counts. To be a contentious voter in a democracy, one should护士职业道德规范
A) spend some time learning about the issues.B) find out about the positions of the candidates.C) be sure to vote.D) do all of the above.Ans: d
10. Political parties
A) have a large influence on tting the political agenda of candidates.B) are only concerned with market efficiency.
C) have primaries that influence the party platform.D) a and b.E) a and c.
哈姆雷特赏析Ans: e
11. Voter fraud
A) can have a detrimental effect on the political process.B) is easily detected.
C) is defined as trading votes to pass certain political agenda items.
D) is more likely to occur in dictatorial political frameworks.
E) is more prevalent among younger voters.
Ans: a
12. Government bureaucrats want larger budgets
A) becau salaries are sometimes tied to budget size.B) to fulfill an “empire building” tendency.
C) becau it may be necessary to ensure marginal benefits of output equal marginal costs.
仄平D) becau of all of the above. Ans: d
13. Lindahl prices
A) result in efficient levels of public goods provision.
B) require honest revelation of preferences.
C) result in different prices for the same amount of output.
D) cau all of the above.E) cau none of the above.
Ans: d
14. Government growth has been caud by
历史的意义A) citizens who want larger government.
B) lots of public lands available in the West.C) increas in privatization.D) inflation.
E) none of the above.
Ans: a
15. Which of the following is an example of a special-interest group?
A) Democratic party
电吉他入门
B) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and FirearmsC) National Rifle Association新邵二中
D) Association of State LegislatorsE) all of the above
Ans: c
16. The Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) of 1990
A) focus on spending and revenue targetsB) was implanted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis
C) created the Department of Homeland Security
D) all of the above
Ans: a
17. In 1930 which country had the highest ratio of government expenditures to GDP?
A) CanadaB) SwitzerlandC) United KingdomD) none of the above.Ans: c
Essay
18. Consider the following net benefits (measured in billions of dollars) that will result from the passage of two legislative bills, X and Y:
(A) Identify the logrolling opportunity prent in this situation.
牛蒡子的功效(B) Identify the potential gains to voters.(C) Explain why logrolling is efficiency enhancing. Ans: (A) On their own, neither issue X nor Y will pass. Both will be voted down by votes of 2-1. If person A trades a vote with B, then both issues will pass by 2-1 votes.
(B) With both issues pasd, overall utility for person A is 3. For person B, overall utility is 4. For person C, overall utility is –5.
(C) With issue X pasd, society is benefited becau it had a total benefit to society of 3. Logrolling also allowed issue Y to pass, though it shouldn’t have since its total benefit to society is –1.
19. Suppo there were three candidates running for office: Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe. Suppo a majority of voters preferred Cheatum to Dewey. Does this mean that a majority of voters preferred Howe to Dewey?
Ans: Suppo there are three voters. The following example illustrates the counter-example. Each voter ranks the candidates in order of preference. Cheatum beats Dewey, but Dewey beats Howe.
20. Suppo that you have two people in an economy, Ms. Hundley and Mr. McKenna, who want to
produce a public good S. Suppo we calculate the Lindahl equilibrium using the method in your textbook. In this ca, the demand curve for Ms. Hundley is S=P1/2. The demand curve for Mr. McKenna is S=8/P. If the marginal social cost of the project is 10, what is the Lindahl equilibrium quantity of S? What are the Lindahl prices?
Ans: Set P1/2 = 8/P. Multiply both sides by P, leaving P3/2 = 8. Therefore, P = 82/3 = 4. At P = 4, S* = 2. Mr. McKenna pays 4. Ms. Hundley pays 6.
21. Consider Figure 6.5 in your textbook. If the equation for the demand curve were X = 18 – P/2 and marginal revenue were X = 9 – P/4 with MC constant at 10, how much rent would there be?
Ans: The cartel quantity would be found by tting MR = MC, which would be 6½. The corresponding cartel price would be 23. The rents would be found by subtracting the MC of 10 from the cartel price of 23, which gives 13. Multiply that by 6½ for 84½.
22. In Figure 6.4 in your textbook, there is an illustration of Niskanen’s model of bureaucracy. Suppo housing costs are measured by the function C = Q2. Suppo further that value is measured by V = Q1/2. What is the actual level of output in this ca?
Ans: Set Q2 = Q1/2. Q* = 1.
Multiple choice
23. The possibility of multiple-peaked preferences can not be ruled out.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: a
24. Applying economic principles to the analysis of political decision making is political economy.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: a
25. Mathematically, agenda manipulation can not occur with economies greater than four people.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: b
26. The median voter must have preferences that reflect tho of all people in the community.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: b
27. Elected officials never care about the wishes of the voting public and govern using their own value system.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: c
28. Special interest groups are a determent to the political process.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: b
29. Under certain assumptions, the actions of elected officials mimic the wishes of the median voter.
普通话考试文章A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.
Ans: a
30. Arrow’s impossibility theorem is not relevant to modern analysis of political economy.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: b
31. Governments can work efficiently whether large or small.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: c
32. In William Niskanen’s model of bureaucracy, the efficient level of government output is greater than the actual level of output.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: b
33. Government is inherently bad.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: b
34. Most economists – both liberals and conrvatives – believe a balanced budget amendment is an ill-conceived idea.
A) True.B) Fal.C) Uncertain.Ans: a
Essay
35. What should be the priority of politicians? Should they be mainly concerned with conveying and voting the wishes of the people that they reprent? Should they be mainly concerned with standing for positions that they feel strongly about? Should they be mainly concerned with curing reelection? Ans: All three issues are valid and must be dealt with in conjunction. The people that elected them as reprentatives expect to have their voices heard in a democracy. In addition, the people who elect a politician have to be able to trust their reprentatives’ judgment on some issues. A politician not in office can have no impact, so reelection has to be a concern.
36. Special interest groups are not always perceived to add a positive to society. Discuss why this i
s so. Ans: Often small groups of people form groups that have political influence that are borne out by majority of society when the majority of society does not receive the benefits of the legislated action. This can cau rentment and sometimes lead to economically inefficient levels of production.
37. In recent years, there has been a decline in the overall number of people voting in national, state, and local elections. This phenomenon has been even more pronounced among young voters. What are possible explanations for this?
Ans: Increasingly, young people feel disaffected by the political process and do not feel that their votes or voices actually matter. Voters have become less aware of the issue and, therefore, less inclined to participate in the political process.
