Multiple Choice Questions
1. Most children raised in the poor nation of Angola will __________, when compared to
children raised in the wealthy nation of Sweden.
a. be only fairly well-educated, despite rising oil revenues
b. face much poorer life chances, given poor health care and high homicide rates
c. face moderately good life chances, despite rising oil revenues
d. face much poorer life chances, despite rising incomes, due to high homicide rates
affect the lives of its citizens.
Topic: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
2. The process of expanding choices people have to lead the lives they value is a definition of:
a. economic freedom
b. economic development
c. democracy
d. human development
development.
Topic: Economic Development and Human Development
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
3. South Korea’s military government was successful in promoting economic development
in comparison with military governments elsewhere for reasons including:
a. its geographic location, with excellent ports and proximity to major markets in Asia.
b. the nation’s rich natural resources.
c. significant cultural differences from other military-led governments, including a
stronger work ethic.
d. a competent bureaucracy, inherited from Japanese colonial rule, and economic
support from the United States.
development.
Topic: Economic Development and Human Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
200
4. The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index that measures:
a. health, knowledge, and standard of living.
b. economic growth, economic equality, and standard of living.
c. literacy, safety, and political rights.
d. life expectancy, safety, and democratic rights.
development.
Topic: Economic Development and Human Development
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
5. Two criteria used for looking at how nations differ in regard to their levels of
development are:
a. GDP and GDP per capita.
b. GDP per capita and HDI.
c. GDP per capita and state strength.
d. HDI and state strength.
levels of development.
Topic: Differing Levels of Development Among Countries
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
6. ______________ refers to poverty so dire as to be a life-threatening condition.
a. Severe poverty
b. Relative poverty
c. Extreme, or absolute, poverty
d. Median poverty
poverty and identify which regions of the world have the highest numbers and
percentages of people living in extreme poverty.
Topic: Comparing Incomes Between Countries with High and Low Levels of
Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
201
7. The region of the world with the highest percentage of extremely poor people is
_________.
a. South Asia
b. East Asia
c. Latin America
d. sub-Saharan Africa
poverty and identify which regions of the world have the highest numbers and
percentages of people living in extreme poverty.
Topic: Comparing Incomes Between Countries with High and Low Levels of
Development
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
8. The World Bank’s criterion for absolute poverty is an income per day of less than _____.
a. $10.00
b. $20.00
c. $2.50
d. $1.25
poverty and identify which regions of the world have the highest numbers and
percentages of people living in extreme poverty.
Topic: Comparing Incomes Between Countries with High and Low Levels of
Development
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
9. The nations ranked highest and lowest according to the Human Development Index
(HDI) in 2010 differed most dramatically in regard to their:
a. adult literacy rates.
b. mortality rates for children under 5.
c. life expectancies.
d. infant mortality rates.
percentages and numbers of people with low capabilities.
Topic: Comparing Capabilities Between Countries with High and Low Levels of
Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
202
10. As was true with extreme poverty, the region of the world with the largest percentage of
people having low capabilities is _____________.
a. Latin America
b. North Africa
c. South Asia
d. sub-Saharan Africa
percentages and numbers of people with low capabilities.
Topic: Comparing Capabilities Between Countries with High and Low Levels of
Development
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
11. Many low development category nations, particularly in ___________, have seen rapid
growth in the 21st Century, after little growth in the late 20th Century.
a. South Asia
b. Latin America
c. the Middle East
d. sub-Saharan Africa
consequences for incomes between countries with high and low levels of development.
Topic: Comparing Economic Growth Rates Between Countries with High and Low
Levels of Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
12. Some of the world’s fastest-growing nations have economies whose growth may not be
sustainable, critics charge, due to heavy dependence on:
a. foreign industry, which may pick up and move elsewhere any day.
b. heavy industry, in a largely postindustrial economic era.
c. a large number of people living in extreme poverty, who are not well-educated.
d. commodities such as oil and copper, whose prices are subject to fluctuations.
consequences for incomes between countries with high and low levels of development.
Topic: Comparing Economic Growth Rates Between Countries with High and Low
Levels of Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
203
13. An example of a weak state, with low infrastructural as well as authoritative power, is
___________.
a. China
b. Afghanistan
c. Sweden
d. South Korea
sustained economic development.
Topic: States and Development
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
14. ________________ is the power to implement state decisions, while ____________
refers to the power to gain citizen compliance with those decisions.
a. Infrastructural power, authoritative power
b. Administrative power, enforcement power
c. Legislative power, law enforcement power
d. Authoritative power, infrastructural power
sustained economic development.
Topic: States and Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
15. Corruption rankings for these countries from least corrupt to most corrupt are:
a. Sweden, Brazil, and Somalia.
b. Iran, Brazil, and Sweden.
c. the United States, Sweden, and Nigeria.
d. Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Somalia.
sustained economic development.
Topic: States and Development
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
204
16. _______________ has experienced a high level of growth since 1980, despite having
significant levels of corruption in its government.
a. The United States, particularly in the 1990s
b. Nigeria
c. Brazil
d. China
sustained economic development.
Topic: States and Development
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
17. In the late eighteenth century, the richest country in the world on a per capita basis was
probably ___________.
a. Great Britain
b. Germany
c. France
d. Haiti
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Colonialism
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
18. The formal political rule of one country by another is a definition of ____________.
a. colonialism
b. imperialism
c. semi-sovereignty
d. subjugation
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Colonialism
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
205
19. A problem with using Haiti to make the case that colonialism was the main reason for the
gap between developed and less-developed countries is:
a. that there are other countries poorer than Haiti.
b. that a case study of one country, such as Haiti, cannot control for many other
variables contributing to a lack of development.
c. Haiti was unique in winning independence from a European colonizer as early as it
did, from France in 1804.
d. Haiti was not landlocked, unlike many other former European colonies.
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Colonialism
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
20. Those who challenge the argument that colonialism best explains the gap between
developed and less-developed countries argue that:
a. profits from colonialism were not large enough to explain Europe’s wealth.
b. most of the largest former colonies, including the United States, are highly developed
now.
c. imperialism had no role in contributing to Haiti’s current poverty.
d. wealth typically insures sustained economic growth, but does not always do so.
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Colonialism
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
21. Geography fails as an all-purpose explanation for different levels of development given
that:
a. most of Eurasia is less well-developed, and includes such less-developed nations as
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
b. North Korea and South Korea have similar levels of economic development.
c. many nations, including those in Europe, frequently deal with endemic, debilitating
diseases.
d. the case for colonialism as an all-purpose explanation is so much stronger.
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Geography
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
206
22. Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs, and Steel attributes differences in levels of
economic development to ____________.
a. corruption
b. culture
c. geography
d. institutions
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Geography
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
23. German scholar Max Weber argued that ________________ helped explain why
European countries were the first to develop economically.
a. geographic advantages, such as access to the sea and the development of agriculture
b. strong democratic institutions
c. inclusive economic institutions
d. the Protestant ethic’s emphasis on steady, disciplined hard work, thrift, honesty, and
effective use of time
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Culture
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
24. The hypothesis that the Protestant ethic helped explain why Europe developed
economically is incompatible with the notion that capitalist development is:
a. driven by greed or a desire for comfort and pleasure
b. driven by corruption of government by business
c. driven by accident of geography
d. not possible in countries outside Europe
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Culture
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
207
25. Political scientist Francis Fukuyama argues that ________________ can significantly
affect a nation’s well-being, since any economic activity depends on social cooperation.
a. a set of beliefs about the importance of hard work and thrift
b. the level of tolerance for corruption
c. tolerance of minorities and dissenting opinions
d. the level of trust inherent in any society
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Culture
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
26. Cultural explanations of different levels of economic development have difficulty
explaining:
a. why China has been so successful in recent times, despite low levels of generalized
trust there.
b. why countries with low levels of generalized trust can have high levels of economic
development.
c. why different levels of generalized trust might be found in nations with otherwise
similar cultural backgrounds.
d. sudden changes in a nation’s economic performance.
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Culture
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
27. Inclusive economic institutions are ones that:
a. increase generalized trust between members.
b. include several countries.
c. soften the harsh consequences of markets.
d. protect property rights.
explanations for why some countries are more economically developed than others.
Topic: Why Did Some Countries Become More Economically Developed Than Others:
Institutions
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
208