An Essay on the Principle of Population

1.) Whose An Essay on the Principle of Population argued that human living standards could only temporarily rise above subsistence?


A. Adam Smith. 


B. Thomas Malthus. 


C. John Maynard Keynes. 


D. Alfred Marshall. 

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2.) Resource demand has grown over time: 



A. because of population growth only.
 


B. because of increased consumption per person only.
 


C. because of both increased population and greater consumption per person.
 


D. despite decreases in population and consumption per person. 

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3.) The total global demand for resources is expected to: 



A. increase for the coming decades, but eventually peak and decline.
 


B. increase indefinitely.
 


C. decrease for the coming decades, and eventually flatten out.
 


D. plateau for the coming decades and then increase exponentially. 

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4.) Energy economics is concerned with: 



A. attempting to find and exploit low cost energy sources.
 


B. per capita energy demand of an economy. 


C. reducing energy costs for producers and consumers.
 


D. all of these 

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5.) Alternative fuels become more economically viable as:


A. the demand for oil decreases.
 


B. subsidies for alternative fuels are removed.
 


C. oil exploration and drilling technology improve. 


D. the price of oil rises. 

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6.) Which of the following is considered a renewable natural resource? 



A. aquifers. 


B. coal. 


C. petroleum. 


D. iron. 

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7.) Which of the following is considered a non-renewable natural resource? 



A. solar power.
 


B. coal.
 


C. oceans.
 


D. aquifers. 

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8.) Productive inputs capable of replacing or renewing themselves if harvested at moderate rates are known as: 



A. renewable natural resources.
 


B. natural capital.
 


C. non-renewable natural resources.
 


D. fossil fuels. 

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9.) Unless people can benefit from conservation, there is a temptation to: 



A. delay resource extraction as long as possible.
 


B. extract and use resources at a constant rate. 


C. extract and use resources as quickly as possible.
 


D. ban the extraction of non-renewable resources. 

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10.) The user cost of extracting a non-renewable resource is: 



A. the sum of the dollar expenditures incurred to extract the resource.
 


B. the cost of not being able to extract it in the future if it is extracted and sold in the present.
 


C. the selling price of the resource to the companies using it to produce goods and services.
 


D. directly proportional to how much of the non-renewable resource remains. 

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11.) Market failure is said to occur whenever: 



A. private markets do not allocate resources in the way that best satisfies society's wants.
 


B. prices rise.
 


C. some consumers who want a good do not obtain it because the price is higher than they are willing to pay.
 


D. government intervenes in the functioning of private markets. 

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12.) The two main characteristics of a public good are: 



A. production at constant marginal cost and rising demand.
 


B. nonexcludability and production at rising marginal cost.
 


C. nonrivalry and nonexcludability.
 


D. nonrivalry and large negative externalities. 

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13.) Unlike a private good, a public good:


A. has no opportunity costs.
 


B. has benefits available to all, including nonpayers.
 


C. produces no positive or negative externalities.
 


D. is characterized by rivalry and excludability. 

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14.) An example of a public good is:


A. broadband Internet access.
 


B. homeland defense.
 


C. a baseball.
 


D. a lawn mower. 

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15.) Because of the free-rider problem: 



A. the market demand for a public good is overstated.
 


B. the market demand for a public good is nonexistent or understated.
 


C. government has increasingly yielded to the private sector in producing public goods.
 


D. public goods often create moral hazard and adverse selection problems. 

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16.) A positive externality or spillover benefit occurs when:


A. product differentiation increases the variety of products available to consumers.
 


B. the benefits associated with a product exceed those accruing to people who consume it.
 


C. a firm produces at the P = MC output.
 


D. economic profits are zero in the long run. 

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17.) The Coase theorem states that: 



A. government should levy excise taxes on firms that generate spillover or external costs.
 


B. taxes should be levied such that they change private behavior as little as possible.
 


C. bargaining between private parties will remedy externality problems where property rights are clearly defined, the number of people involved are few, and bargaining costs are small.
 


D. trading of votes to secure favorable voting outcomes may increase efficiency. 

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18.) The tragedy of the commons is the idea that: 



A. society has a tendency to overuse and thus abuse common resources.
 


B. total external costs in society far outweigh total external benefits.
 


C. matter can be transformed to other matter or into energy but can never vanish.
 


D. crime rates typically are higher in public places than where property is privately owned. 

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19.) Where there is asymmetric information between buyers and sellers: 



A. product shortages will occur at the equilibrium price.
 


B. product surpluses will occur at the equilibrium price.
 


C. markets can produce inefficient outcomes.
 


D. markets will fail due to the "free-rider problem." 

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20.) Sellers will opt out of markets in which: 



A. there are significant negative externalities.
 


B. standardized products exist.
 


C. there are only foreign buyers.
 


D. information about buyers is inadequate, and some buyers can impose high costs on the sellers.