ECON 2020 – Flashcards

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Which of the following is a factor of production?
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Money
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In a production possibilities graph with just two products in an economy, the graph shows the quantity of:
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One product on the vertical axis and the quantity of the another product on the horizontal axis
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If the opportunity cost of producing extra units of one good (expressed in terms of the amount of another good that is sacrificed) remains constant, then the shape of the production possibilities curve is:
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A straight downsloping line
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Which statement is an economic rationale for the law of increasing opportunity costs?
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Many economic resources are better at producing one product than another
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When a society is under-allocating resources to the production of a good or service, then the:
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Marginal benefit is greater than the marginal cost
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In a graph of the marginal benefit (MB) and marginal cost (MC) of national defense goods, a rightward shift or increase in the MB curve will:
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Increase the allocation of resources to national defense
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To improve the rate of growth of labor productivity a number of economists have suggested that there needs to be:
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An increase in investment relative to consumption
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One major assumption of the economic perspective is:
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That individuals' behavior reflect rational self-interest
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The purpose of the ceteris paribus assumption used in economic analysis is to:
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Focus on the effect of a single factor on a certain variable
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Assume that a consumer purchases only two products and there is a decrease in the consumer's income. The prices of the two products stay the same. The change in income will result in a
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Shift of the budget line inward to the left
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The production possibilities curve represents:
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The maximum combinations of products that can be produced with fixed resources and technology
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The circular flow model:
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Illustrates the interdependence of businesses and consumers
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Which statement is correct?
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In a market system, prices serve to ration goods and services to consumers
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A characteristic of the market system is:
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Extensive use of barter
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The system where workers concentrate on specialized tasks to make a product is referred to as:
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Division of labor
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Consider a barter system where you have pens, but you want pencils. To satisfy your want there must be:
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Coincidence of wants
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The production technique that is most efficient is the one that produces a given amount of output:
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at the lowest total cost
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As new firms enter an expanding industry:
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Economic profits tend to decline
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"For whom is a given mix of goods and services to be produced? How, in other words, are the society's outputs to be distributed among its members?" In a market economy, this problem is resolved primarily in the:
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Private sector through the earning and spending of income
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Which fundamental economic question does a market system primarily address by focusing on technological advance and capital accumulation?
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How will the system promote progress?
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The development of the Internet and e-mail to replace regular mail would be an example of:
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Creative destruction
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The money income of households consists of the sum of:
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Wages plus rents plus interest plus profits
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In the circular flow diagram, households:
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Make consumption expenditures and receive goods and services
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In 2007, the price of oil increased, which in turn caused the price of natural gas to rise. This can best be explained by saying that oil and natural gas are:
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substitute goods and the higher price for oil increased the demand for natural gas.
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If products A and B are complements and the price of B decreases the:
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demand for A will increase and the quantity of B demanded will increase.
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When an economist says that the demand for a product has increased, this means that:
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consumers are now willing to purchase more of this product at each possible price.
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The term "quantity demanded":
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refers to the amount of a product that will be purchased at some specific price.
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If we say that a price is too high to clear the market, we mean that:
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quantity supplied exceeds quantity demanded.
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Allocative efficiency refers to:
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the production of the product mix most wanted by society.
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A government subsidy per unit of output increases supply.
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True
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A government tax per unit of output reduces supply.
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True
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If two goods are complements:
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a decrease in the price of one will increase the demand for the other.
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An increase in the quantity demanded means that:
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price has declined and consumers therefore want to purchase more of the product.
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An improvement in production technology will:
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shift the supply curve to the right.
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When the price of oil declines significantly, the price of gasoline also declines. The latter occurs because of a(n):
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increase in the supply of gasoline.
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At the current price there is a shortage of a product. We would expect price to:
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increase, quantity demanded to decrease, and quantity supplied to increase.
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Which of the following is a consequence of rent controls established to keep housing affordable for the poor?
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All of these
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The business cycle depicts:
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short-run fluctuations in output and employment.
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Real GDP measures the:
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value of final goods and services produced within the borders of a country, corrected for price changes.
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Real GDP is preferred to nominal GDP as a measure of economic performance because:
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nominal GDP uses current prices and thus may over- or understate true changes in output.
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For an economy to increase investment, it must:
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increase saving.
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Prices tend to be sticky because:
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firms are worried that frequent price changes would annoy consumers.
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(Consider This) The U.S. recession which occurred in 2008 and 2009 represented a case where:
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prices were relatively sticky and most of the impact was on total output.
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The business cycle is primarily concerned with changes in the level of overall prices over time.
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False
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Modern economic growth refers to any situation where a nation's output increases.
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False
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(Consider This) If Ford Motor Company purchases factory equipment previously used by General Motors, this would be considered an economic investment.
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False
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In situations of sticky prices and negative demand shocks we would expect firms to:
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build up inventories before reducing production.
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(Consider This) What is the difference between financial investment and economic investment?
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Financial investment refers to the purchase of assets for financial gain; economic investment refers to the purchase of newly created capital goods.
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The business cycle reflects both short-run fluctuations in output and long-run economic growth.
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True
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The gross domestic product (GDP) concept accounts for society's valuation of the relative worth of goods and services by using:
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A monetary measure
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The two ways of looking at GDP are the:
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Expenditures approach and income approach
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When gross private domestic investment exceeds depreciation, it can be concluded that:
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Net investment is positive
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If the price index is 130, this means that:
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Prices are 30 percent higher than in the base year
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Nominal GDP differs from real GDP because:
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Real GDP results from adjusting for changes in the price level
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The value added in an industry includes the wages earned by workers in the industry.
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True
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The total volume of business sales in our economy is several times larger than GDP because:
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The GDP excludes intermediate transactions
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Money spent on the purchase of a new house is included in the GDP as a part of:
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Gross domestic private investment
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Gross private domestic investment is the value of capital goods bought by firms plus:
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All construction and changes in business inventories
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In an economy that is experiencing a shrinking production capacity:
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Depreciation exceeds gross investment
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In the expenditures approach of national income accounting, C, Ig, and G include expenditures for:
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Domestically produced as well as imported goods and services
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The expenditures or output approach to GDP measures it by summing up:
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The total spending for consumption, investment, net exports, and government purchases
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Which of the following represents an income flow in the circular flow of domestic output and national income?
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Corporate profits
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The amount of new output produced per year for both consumption and additions to capital stock is measured by:
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NDP
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The value of a sale of a share of stock is considered to be an investment in national income accounting.
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False
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Changes in business inventories are included as part of investment in the national income accounts.
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True
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If the University of Missouri builds a new laboratory, it will be counted as part of Ig in GDP.
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False
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Which of the following is a demand factor in economic growth?
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An increase in total spending in the economy
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Economic growth can best be portrayed as a:
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Rightward shift of the production possibilities curve
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Real GDP or total output in any year is equal to:
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Number of worker-hours multiplied by labor productivity
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Society can increase its output and income by increasing basically one or both of two factors:
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Its resources and the productivity of the resources
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The number of worker-hours available in an economy is determined by the following, except:
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Unemployment rate of the workforce
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Which of the following will NOT increase the average productivity of labor?
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An increase in the size of the labor force
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The growth of per capita income in China is largely the result of:
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An increased use of capital goods
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The "rule of 70" is a formula for determining the approximate number of:
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Years that it would take for a value (like real GDP) to double
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Historically, the total amount of real capital per worker in the United States has:
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Increased significantly and made labor more productive
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Which of the following is a main source of increasing returns in recent years?
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More learning by doing
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Over the past twenty-five years China has experienced nearly a:
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9 percent average annual growth rate and real output has more than quadrupled
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In which industry or sector of the economy is output least likely to be affected by the business cycle?
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Agricultural commodities
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A headline states: "Real GDP falls again as the economy slumps." This condition is most likely to produce what type of unemployment?
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Cyclical
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Search and wait unemployment is another way to describe:
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Frictional unemployment
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A high unemployment rate most likely means that there is a:
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Large GDP gap in the economy
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"Depression means idleness. And idleness means loss of skills, loss of self-respect, plummeting morale, family disintegration, and sociopolitical unrest." This quote describes some of the:
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Noneconomic costs of unemployment
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When inflation occurs:
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The purchasing power of money decreases
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Inflation caused by an increase in aggregate spending is referred to as:
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Demand-pull inflation
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Inflation that occurs when total spending is greater than the economy's ability to produce output at the existing price level is:
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Demand-pull inflation
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The duration of a recession measures the decline in real output during the recession.
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False
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Which phase of the business cycle would be most closely associated with an economic contraction?
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Recession
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Unemployment that occurs when there is deficient demand for the goods and services of an economy is called:
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Cyclical unemployment
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A mismatch between the geographic location of workers and the location of job openings would result in what type of unemployment?
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Structural
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"Full employment" refers to the situation when there is:
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No cyclical unemployment
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Which of the following is a correct statement?
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Demand-pull inflation will continue so long as there is excess total spending in the economy
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Personal saving is equal to:
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Disposable income minus consumption
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Which of the following would shift the consumption schedule downward?
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An increase in the probability of a recession
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An investment demand curve shows the varying amounts of investment that would be undertaken at various levels of:
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Real interest rate
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The multiplier effect relates:
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Changes in spending to changes in real GDP
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The change in real GDP resulting from an initial change in spending can be calculated by:
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Multiplying the multiplier by the initial change in spending
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When the consumption schedule is plotted on a graph:
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Consumption is on the vertical axis and disposable income is on the horizontal axis
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The fraction, or percentage, of total income which is consumed is called the:
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Average propensity to consume
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If businesses feel more optimistic about the state of the economy, then this change is likely to:
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Shift the investment demand curve to the right
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Saving equals disposable income minus consumption.
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True
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If people saved more of any extra income that they receive, then the consumption schedule will become flatter.
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False
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