Macro Econ ch.6 – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Did Keynesian or Classical economics support laissez-faire policy?
answer
Classical economics supported laissez-faire policies because they believed business cycles were temporary glitches, which the market would correct.
question
Would Keynesian or Classical economists be more likely to emphasize the fallacy of composition?
answer
Keynesians are more likely to emphasize the fallacy of composition. The fallacy of composition is the false assumption that what is true for a part will also be true for the whole. Keynes carefully distinguished the adjustment process for a single market from the adjustment process for the aggregate economy, arguing that the effects differ significantly between the two.
question
Is structural stagnation a Keynesian or a Classical theory?
answer
Structural stagnation is neither a Keynesian or Classical theory. It includes elements of both.
question
If output rises by 4 percent and population rises by 3 percent, how much does per capita output increase?
answer
1%
question
What are two ways in which long-term economic growth is measured?
answer
Increases in total output and per capita total output.
question
What has happened to growth rates in Western Europe and the United States in recent years?
answer
In recent years, Western Europe and the United States have exhibited very slow growth rates.
question
How does the U.S. per capita growth rate since 1940 compare to growth rates in other areas around the world?
answer
From 1940 to 1970, the U.S. growth rate was, on average, higher than the average world growth rate. Since 2000, the U.S. growth rate has been lower than the average world growth rate. Explanation: From 1940 to 1970 the U.S. economy grew at a rate of about 2.5 percent per year, which was lower than Western Europe and Japan but higher than many other countries. In the following decades until 2000, U.S. growth was higher than most except for India and China, which have experienced considerable growth. Since 2000 the U.S. economy has been slower than many countries, averaging about 1 percent per year in the first decade of the 2000s.
question
label each of the four phases of a representative business cycle.
answer
Each of the four phases—peak, downturn, trough, and upturn
question
How does a structural stagnation differ from a recession?
answer
1. A recession is a short period of declining output whereas a structural stagnation is a period of protracted slow growth and high unemployment. 2.Unemployment is due to temporary layoffs in a recession but longer-term changes in a structural stagnation.
question
Which has the more pessimistic view of the problems facing the United States economy: structural stagnation theory or conventional business cycle theory?
answer
Structural stagnation theory is more pessimistic because the economy remains stuck in a period of growth that is lower than the economy's normal growth rate, whereas in a business cycle the economic downturn is followed by an upturn that returns the economy to its long-term growth rate.
question
Distinguish between structural unemployment and cyclical unemployment.
answer
Structural unemployment is unemployment caused by the institutional structure of an economy or by economic restructuring making some skills obsolete, whereas cyclical unemployment is unemployment resulting from fluctuations in economic activity.
question
Which one of the following is short-run involuntary unemployment?
answer
Cyclical unemployment, which results from fluctuations in economic activity, is best studied in the short-run framework.
question
The business cycle is:
answer
the term used to describe fluctuations in output around its long-term trend.
question
Nominal output is best defined as a measure of the:
answer
value of output at prices in the current year.
question
Between 2007 and 2009, the U.S. unemployment rate rose from under 5 percent to over 8 percent. A Keynesian economist would most likely blame this increase in unemployment on:
answer
a decline in the level of aggregate demand.
question
The Classical economists argued that:
answer
if unemployment occurs, it will cure itself because wages and prices will fall.
question
The highest amount of output an economy can sustainably produce and sell using existing production processes and resources is called:
answer
potential output.
question
If a country of 300 million people has a total income of $12 trillion, its per capita income is:
answer
$40,000.
question
From 2001 to 2010, which geographic area or country had the highest per capita growth rate?
answer
china
question
Per capita output would be certain to increase if:
answer
real output increases and population decreases.
question
Which of the following statements best characterizes the Keynesian view of business cycles?
answer
Expansions and contractions of the business cycle are symptoms of underlying problems and should be dealt with through activist government policies.
question
Unemployment caused by recession is called:
answer
cyclical unemployment.
question
News Story: Workers at a car-manufacturing plant in Flint, Michigan are laid off because the economy is weak and GM cars aren't selling well. GM isn't sure when the plant will reopen. What type of unemployment describes the workers' situation?
answer
Cyclical unemployment
question
The target rate of unemployment is defined as the:
answer
lowest sustainable rate of unemployment achievable under existing conditions.
question
The U.S. economy did not recover as expected after which economic downturn?
answer
The U.S. economy did not recover as expected after which economic downturn?