Top Hat Questions Exam 2

The Malthus model assumes all of the following, EXCEPT
a
Real income and the birth rate move in the same direction.

b
Real income and the death rate move in opposite directions.

c
There are diminishing returns to adding more workers to the land.

d
Output depends on the quantities of labor and capital.

Why do events that raise productivity NOT lead to sustained prosperity in the Malthus model?
a
Prosperity raises the birth rate and lowers the death rate, which results in population growth.

b
Population growth leads to diminishing returns in production, which erode the gains in productivity.

c
Productivity gains do not shift the birth or death rate curves, so the steady-state income does not change.

d
All of the above

Which of the following events would raise the steady-state income in the Malthus model?
a
Better medicines that reduce the death rate at all incomes

b
Delaying marriage to a later age, which reduces the birth rate at all incomes.

c
A deadly pandemic that increases the death rate at all incomes.

d
Both B and C

Which of the following is TRUE of the demographic transition?
a
Birth rates decline before death rates.

b
The population begins to grow in stage 2.

c
The size of the population decreases in stage 3.

d
None of the above

According to Gary Becker, why did Malthus' analysis fail to anticipate the decline in birth rates that accompanied modern economic growth?
a
Malthus assumption that the income effect is positive (i.e., children are a normal good) was wrong.

b
Malthus overlooked the substitution effect of rising wages (value of time), which makes raising children more expensive.

c
The income (more children) and substitution (less children) effects work in opposite directions, but the substitution effect is the stronger one.

d
Both B and C

Which of the following statements is FALSE?
a
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest population growth rate of any major world region.

b
China is projected to still have the largest population of any country in the world by the year 2050.

c
Some regions (e.g., East Asia) have fewer females relative to males than biological processes would lead us to expect.

Which of the following statements about human capital is FALSE?
a
It recognizes people's learned skills, but can be difficult to disentangle from innate ability.

b
It involves both explicit costs (e.g., tuition, books) and implicit costs (forgone output or earnings).

c
It yields returns (higher productivity reflected in an earnings premium over a person's working lifetime).

d
Unlike physical capital (e.g., machines), it does not depreciate over time or become obsolete.

To evaluate educational investments, we
a
convert all costs and benefits into present values before making comparisons.

b
sum up the present values of the costs of the investment as well as the present values of the benefits.

c
compute the net present value (NPV) of the costs and benefits or the internal rate of return (the interest rate that makes the NPV = 0).

d
do all of the above.

A benefit-cost analysis of educational investment shows all of the following, EXCEPT
a
primary education yields higher internal rates of return (IRR) than any other education level.

b
if we ignore the external benefits of education (because they are hard to measure), social rates of return will be less than private rates of return,

c
the social rates of return to education are smaller in low-income countries than in high-income countries.

All of the following are true about education in low- and middle-income countries, EXCEPT
a
Enrollment ratios have risen dramatically.

b
The gender gap in years of education has increased.

c
Average years of schooling have increased in all regions.

d
The proportion of the population below age 15 is high.

Which of these statements is (are) TRUE?
a
Cognitive skills (math & reading) and years of schooling explain growth rates equally well.

b
Investments in education, physical capital, and technology (innovation) are complementary.

c
As knowledge accumulated, the returns to education increased, raising the cost of preparing children for life and inducing parents to have fewer of them.

d
Both B and C

What is the main reason for the dramatic increases in life expectancy in low- and middle-income countries?
a
Better treatments for heart disease.

b
Advances in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

c
Reductions in infant and child mortality.

What contributed to the decline in child mortality in low- and middle-income countries or was associated with it?
a
UNICEF- and WHO-sponsored vaccinations and immunizations.

b
Investments in education, especially for women.

c
A population explosion after 1950.

d
All of the above

Which of the following statements about HIV/AIDS is FALSE?
a
HIV infections are concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa.

b
It affects young men more than women and children.

c
It creates explicit, implicit, and psychic costs.

d
It reduced world population projections.

Which of the following are associated with malaria?
a
2000 deaths among children per day, over half among the poorest 20% of the world's population.

b
Reductions in economic growth rates of more than 1% per year in some countries.

c
Rapid development of effective vaccines, like we saw for COVID-19.

d
Both A and B

The agricultural sector in low- and middle-income countries is important for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
a
It is the main industry in the rural areas where many poor persons live.

b
Agricultural exports generate foreign exchange that is needed to pay for crucial imports of physical capital and intermediate goods.

c
Rising productivity in the rural areas is the only source of labor resources for the expanding manufacturing and service industries.

d
The share of the population in the rural areas is increasing.

Why does agriculture's share of GDP diminish as countries become richer?
a
The demand for food grows slowly as incomes rise.

b
The supply of food grows more rapidly as new technologies raise agricultural productivity.

c
When supply grows more rapidly than demand, prices fall, creating incentives for resources to shift from agriculture to other sectors.

d
All of the above

Which of the following statements about food production is FALSE?
a
Grain yields in developing countries have been rising.

b
The growth rates of cereal (wheat, maize, rice) yields are falling.

c
Irrigation, fertilizer, and hybrid seeds can dramatically increase yields.

d
The amount of usable cropland is the crucial factor limiting gains in output.

The Green Revolution in Asian agriculture involved
a
a switch to cleaner energy sources.

b
a conversion from raising livestock to raising crops.

c
higher yielding varieties of rice, more irrigation, and application of fertilizers.

Which of these statements about marketing boards for agricultural products is FALSE?
a
They raise the prices farmers receive for their products.

b
They reduce food prices for domestic consumers.

c
They reduce exports of agricultural products.

d
They generate government revenue.

What feature do overvalued exchange rates and tariffs (taxes) on agricultural inputs in a SMALL developing country share?
a
They raise the world price of food.

b
They create a shortage of foreign exchange.

c
They raise production costs for farmers.

d
They harm the interests of farmers.

Which of the following statements about the political economy of farming is FALSE?
a
Political support for higher prices for farmers depends on the faction of income that people spend on food.

b
A ruling political party can pursue policies that harm most farmers, even when they are a majority of the population, because of the free-rider problem.

c
Subsidized agricultural inputs or projects can deter the few farmers in a position to form an opposition party.

d
As farmers become less numerous and more specialized, they lose political power.

Which of the following statements is TRUE?
a
African governments have made policy changes that improve incentives for using resources efficiently.

b
According to Amartya Sen, different agricultural polices are the key to making famines rare.

c
We are close to the biological limit of the earth's capacity to produce food.

Having a comparative advantage in producing a good means that
a
you can produce the good with fewer resources than other producers.

b
the resources you use to produce the good have less valuable alternative uses than the resources other producers would use.

c
You can produce more of the good per unit of time than other producers.

Which of the following statements is (are) TRUE?
a
Everyone benefits from trade between countries.

b
Trade between countries allows for more efficient use of the world's resources.

c
Voluntary trade between countries creates net gains for both countries.

d
Both B and C

Which of the following statements is FALSE?
a
The volume of world trade has risen substantially in recent decades.

b
A country can gain from trade only if other countries remove trade barriers (e.g., tariffs).

c
Trade is more advantageous to small countries than large countries.

d
Trade creates substitutes for domestic workers.

Imposing a tariff has all of the following effects EXCEPT
a
raising the domestic price of the product.

b
increasing the domestic quantity supplied of the product.

c
increasing the domestic quantity demanded of the product.

d
reducing imports of the product.

Tariffs can
a
Draw to an industry resources that have more valuable uses elsewhere.

b
Give a fledgling industry time to learn how to produce efficiently.

c
Help producers at the expense of consumers

d
All of the above

Over recent decades,
a
tariffs in low- and middle-income countries have fallen.

b
high-income countries have dramatically reduced tariffs on products from low- and middle-income countries.

c
exports from low- and middle-income countries have shifted toward manufactured exports.

d
Both A and C

What has contributed to global supply chain congestion after the pandemic?
a
A surge in U.S. demand following the pandemic.

b
A abrupt shift in U. S. demand from services to goods.

c
Flows of goods that exceed infrastructure capacity (ports, railroads, trucking lines).

d
All of the above