Chapter 19 Natural Resource and Energy Economics Answer Key
Multiple Choice Questions
1.
As of 2016, the world’s population is approximately
D.
1.2 trillion.
2.
Relative to 1800, the living standard of the average person today in the United States is
about times higher.
A. 5
3.
Relative to 1800, today in the world there are
A.
more people but lower per-capita consumption.
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Blooms: Understand
Di f f i cul t y :
02 Medium
Learning Objective: 19–01 Explain why falling birthrates mean that we are not likely to run
out of natural resources.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
4.
Whose An Essay on the Principle of Population argued that human living standards could
only temporarily rise above subsistence?
A. Adam Smith
5.
What is the relationship between living standards and birthrates?
A.
The relationship is negative at low levels of income but becomes increasingly positive as
incomes rise.
6.
The total fertility rate necessary to keep the population constant is approximately equal to
A. 1.0.
7.
The total fertility rate
D.
rises as income rises.
8.
If a country has a total fertility rate of 1.8, then, all else equal, we would expect
A. population in that country to rise over time.
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Test Bank: I
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
9.
A total fertility rate of 1.0 will cause the
A.
population to remain stable.
10.
A rising standard of living will
A.
necessarily reduce the population by reducing the birthrate.
11.
Population will necessarily fall if the
A. birthrate exceeds the replacement rate.
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AACSB: Knowledge Application
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Keyboard Navigation
Blooms: Understand
Di f f i cul t y :
02 Medium
Learning Objective: 19–01 Explain why falling birthrates mean that we are not likely to run
out of natural resources.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
12.
Many demographers expect world population to
A.
increase exponentially into the foreseeable future.
13.
Rapid population growth since 1800 has occurred primarily because of
A. a significant increase in total fertility rates as living standards have risen.
14.
Which of the following statements is true about falling birthrates?
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
least one or two more generations.
B.
They tend to precede declines in death rates, causing a temporary dip in population
before it stabilizes in a generation or two.
C.
They tend to lag behind declining standards of living.
D.
They always cause population to decline.
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
15.
Which of the following nations, as of 2015, has a total fertility rate that would suggest
that its next generation will be just over half the size of the current
generation?
D.
all of these nations
16.
Which of the following is not considered by demographers to be part of the three-step
demographic transition?
A.
simultaneous low birthrates and death rates
19-7
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Learning Objective: 19–01 Explain why falling birthrates mean that we are not likely to run
out of natural resources.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
17.
In which step of the demographic transition would we expect population to grow the
fastest?
A. Step 1
18.
According to the concept of demographic transition,
D.
population plummets in the transition phase.
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
19.
Which of the following, in order, describes the three steps of the demographic
transition?
A.
low birthrates and death rates; high birthrates and low death rates; high birthrates and
death rates
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death rates
C.
high birthrates and low death rates; high birthrates and death rates; low birthrates and
death rates
D.
high birthrates and death rates; high birthrates and low death rates; low birthrates and
death rates
AACSB: Knowledge Application
Accessibility:
Keyboard Navigation
Blooms: Understand
Di f f i cul t y :
02 Medium
Learning Objective: 19–01 Explain why falling birthrates mean that we are not likely to run
out of natural resources.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
20.
Since 1850, the
A. supply and demand for productive resources have grown at the same rate.
21.
Which of the following explains why commodity prices have fallen since 1850?
A.
The demand for productive resources has fallen faster than the supply of those resources.
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out of natural resources.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
22.
The Economist magazine’s Commodities Price Index tracks the prices of the most
A.
important finished goods that are traded internationally.
23.
World commodity prices over the past 150 years have
A. steadily decreased in both the short run and long run.
24.
Resource demand has grown over time
A.
because of population growth only.
19–10
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Accessibility:
Keyboard Navigation
Blooms: Understand
Di f f i cul t y :
02 Medium
Learning Objective: 19–01 Explain why falling birthrates mean that we are not likely to run
out of natural resources.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
25.
Global resource demand has
A.
remained relatively constant because increases in population have been offset by
declining consumption per person.
26.
Over the past decade, U.S. per capita consumption of water
A.
and energy have both increased.
27.
Over the past two decades, total and per capita water use in the United States have
19–11
A. both increased.
28.
Over the past decade, total and per capita trash generated in the United States have
A. both increased at about the same rate.
29. Average per capita water consumption in the United States was approximately how
many gallons per day in 2010?
A. 355
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Resource Supplies: Doom or Boom?
30.
Since 1990, approximately how much trash per person per day has been generated in the
United States?
A.
2 pounds.
31.
If per capita trash generation is constant over time, this implies that
D.
total consumption of goods and services has also been constant.
32.
In energy economics, “BTU” stands for
A.
boiling temperature unit.
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Learning Objective: 19–02 Describe why using a mix of energy sources is efficient, even if
some of them are quite costly.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Energy Economics
33.
A BTU is the amount of energy needed to
D.
raise the temperature of one pint of water by one degree Celsius.
34.
Which of the following is true about U.S. energy consumption and per capita real GDP
since 1990?
A. Per capita energy consumption and per capita real GDP have both risen.
35.
In the United States in 2014, one million BTUs of energy yielded worth of goods and
services (in 2009 dollars).
A. $57.90
36.
Since 1950, the energy efficiency of the U.S. economy in terms of producing goods and
services has
A. not changed.
37.
ACME Corporation used to produce $50 worth of goods (in 2000 dollars) per million
BTUs used. Now it produces $60 worth of goods (in 2000 dollars)
per million BTUs.
Based on this, we can conclude
A.
nothing about ACME‘s energy efficiency.
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38.
To achieve economic efficiency in energy use, an economy
D.
should use only domestically produced energy.
39.
Power plants with the lowest operating costs tend to
A. have the lowest fixed costs in terms of construction.
40.
Energy
Source
Maximum
Capacity (per
plant)
Operating Cost at
One-Half Capacity
(per kwh)
Operating Cost at
Full Capacity (per
kwh)
Coal
30 Megawatts
$0.20
$0.05
Natural Gas
20 Megawatts
$0.30
$0.15
Hydroelectric
10 Megawatts
$0.50
$0.20
Suppose that a city’s energy demand is 30 megawatts during off-peak times and 40
megawatts at its peak. The city has been purchasing electricity from an
outside company
but has decided to build its own power plants to satisfy all of its energy demand. The city
can choose to build one or more plants to
generate the needed electricity. There are three
types of plant: coal, natural gas, and hydroelectric. The three types of plants face the costs
appearing in the
table. Assuming the city’s power needs will not change in the foreseeable
future, to achieve the lowest cost of power generation, the city should build
A.
two coal-fired plants.
41.
Just over half (55 percent) of U.S. electricity is generated from
A.
hydroelectric.
42.
In 2014, the primary sources of U.S. electricity generation, in order from largest to
smallest, were
D.
hydropower, nuclear, coal, and petroleum.
43. Other things equal, biodiesel becomes economically viable (as or less costly than using
oil) when oil prices reach or more per barrel.
A. $60
44.
Other things equal, ethanol made from corn becomes economically viable (same or
lower cost than using oil) when oil prices reach or more per
barrel.
D. $120
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Blooms: Understand
Di f f i cul t y :
02 Medium
Learning Objective: 19–03 Discuss why running out of oil would not mean running out of
energy.
Test Bank: I
Topic:
Running Out of Energy?
45.
Other things equal, extracting oil from shale becomes economically viable (same or
lower cost than using conventionally extracted oil) when oil prices
reach
or more per
barrel.
A. $80
46.
Alternative fuels become more economically viable as
A.
the demand for oil decreases.
47.
Which of the following is considered a renewable natural resource?
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B.
coal
C.
petroleum
D.
iron
48.
Which of the following is considered a renewable natural resource?
A.
natural gas
49.
Which of the following is considered a nonrenewable natural resource?
A. solar power
50.
Which of the following is considered a nonrenewable natural resource?
A.
wind
51.
Productive inputs capable of replacing themselves if harvested at moderate rates are
known as
D.
fossil fuels.
52.
Productive inputs that are actually or virtually fixed in supply are known as
A.
renewable natural resources.