The International View of the Great Depression blames the contraction in the U.S.
economy on
(a) the failure of the U.S. markets to permit a fall in aggregate prices under the gold
standard or to devalue its exchange rate.
(b) exports’ and imports’ large proportion of total GDP in the U.S.
(c) Great Britain abandoning the gold standard.
(d) all of the above.
Which view of the causes of the Great Depression emphasizes the decline in the money
supply which caused aggregate demand for goods and services to shrink, leading
businesses to cut production and employment?
(a) The Monetarists’
(b) The Keynesians’
(c) The Austrians’
(d) The International View
In 1886, what did the U.S. Supreme Court rule in Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific
Railway v Illinois?
(a) Only the federal government could regulate commerce across states.
(b) Only the states had the right to regulate commerce across states.
(c) Neither the federal or state governments had the right to regulate across states.
(d) Railroads were not subject to any government regulation, state or federal.
Field (2003) claims that the period from 1929 to 1941 was the strongest period of what
in U.S. history?
(a) Technological advancements
(b) Monetary policy
(c) Government action
(d) Internationalization
Inflation leads to bracket creep, which forces taxpayers to pay a larger percentage of
their income in taxes, when
(a) Changes in the real purchasing power of their income do not keep pace with
inflation.
(b) Changes in the real purchasing power of their income keep pace with inflation.
(c) Income tax codes change quickly as inflation emerges, impacting real purchasing
power.
(d) Income tax codes increase without taxpayer knowledge, forcing them to pay higher
taxes than anticipated.
When the government increased spending during the 1930s in an attempt to create jobs
and end the Great Depression, it provided an example of expansionary
(a) fiscal policy.
(b) monetary policy.
(c) regulatory policy.
(d) welfare policy.
What did Steckel (1986) find when he compared the slave population to today’s white
population?
(a) The mortality rates of the slaves were much higher than those of modern whites.
(b) Prenatal and postnatal care was the same.
(c) The number of pregnancies brought to term in each group was about the same.
(d) All of the above.
The basic nature of the real property tenure that was transferred here from England
included all of the following characteristics of ownership except
(a) Ownership by purchase was perpetual as long as taxes due were met.
(b) Land could descend to heirs either by will or inheritance.
(c) Ownership included surface resources but not subsurface resources or
mineral rights, like iron ore, whose ownership was retained by the state.
(d) The right to exploit owned resources (right of waste) was complete.
With regard to British trade and commercial policies, all of the following are true
except
(a) British trade and commercial policies had been somewhat beneficial, from the
colonials’ point of view, but now (the 1770s) they had become intolerable.
(b) These policies, unlike land, did not take away American rights so much as they
attempted to tax the exercise of them.
(c) After 1763 the English believed they were free to change their policies drastically to
better accomplish the policy goals.
(d) By the 1770s, like land, these policies had become insupportable after a long period
of relative success.
Robert Higgs and Louis Stettler (1970) find evidence to suggest that colonial couples
married at a younger age than those in Europe, thus explaining the relatively high birth
rates in colonial America.
The European subjugation or displacement of Native Americans from their lands
(a) was justified largely on the grounds that “might makes right.”
(b) was justified largely on the grounds of the “divine right of kings.”
(c) derived from the Christian belief of a right of conquest over non-Christian people.
(d) was none of the above.
Under the Gold Standard (1880-1913) gold would flow into the U.S. when
(a) U.S. exports exceeded its imports.
(b) U.S. imports exceeded its exports.
(c) domestic demand grew faster than domestic supply.
(d) domestic supply grew faster than domestic demand.
The majority of Americans at the end of the colonial period were of
(a) French origin.
(b) British origin.
(c) German origin.
(d) Dutch origin.
Keynesian economics endorsed the idea of
(a) increased government spending as a counterforce against slumps or recessions.
(b) reduced taxation as a counterforce against rising prices.
(c) increased government spending as a counterforce against inflation.
(d) decreased government spending as a counterforce against slumps or recessions.
Modern work in economic history by people like Robert Fogel (1964) and Albert
Fishlow (1965) shows
(a) that railroads were the indispensable key to rapid economic growth in the 19th
century.
(b) that the levels of Gross National Product (GNP) reached in 1890 would have been
reached in 1880 had it not been for reckless railroad speculation.
(c) that less than 5% of the country’s late 19th-century economic growth was
attributable to railroads.
(d) none of the above.
Which researcher argues that the slave system and its enforcement mechanisms
prevented slave individualism from emerging within the system itself?
(a) Robert Fogel
(b) Stanley Engerman
(c) Stanley Elkins
(d) Kenneth Stampp
Which of the following factors caused the Civil War?
(a) Slavery
(b) The conflict between the two systems of agriculture
(c) A shift in political power resulting from new states entering the Union as free or
slave states
(d) All of the above
The Confederate government
(a) failed to increase its external debt and thus produced domestic inflation.
(b) did not make the Confederate currency legal tender.
(c) failed to raise sufficient resources because of unwillingness to increase the supply of
paper money.
(d) did none of the above.
In the antebellum economy of the South, what was not produced for subsistence
consumption?
(a) Corn
(b) Cotton
(c) Cattle
(d) All of the above
Why does popular democracy, as defined in the U.S. Constitution, contribute to
long-term economic growth and political stability?
(a) It allows regular change in the structure of the government.
(b) It provides incentive to invest, innovate and invent.
(c) It permits the President of the U.S. to choose fiscal policies to
advance contemporary mercantilism.
(d) It transfers wealth from the extremely wealthy to the desperately poor.
Which of the following acts was/were designed to take out the risk in the securities
industry?
(a) Truth in Securities Act of 1933
(b) Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
(c) Social Security Act of 1935
(d) All of the above
In the process described as Schumpeterian economic growth (involving Schumpeter’s
ideas about growth),
(a) recessions are the object of countercyclical policy designed to minimize the waste of
unemployed labor and other resources.
(b) expansions are considered wasteful because of the tendency for inflation to
be generated near the cyclical peaks.
(c) recessions are considered to be useful cleansing devices for abandoning
inefficient uses of economic resources.
(d) depressions are considered to be necessary to maintain greater equality of
wealth and income over time.
Why was the Munn v Illinois (1877) court case particularly important with regard to
government regulation?
(a) It upheld the traditional right of businesses to act freely without interference by
government.
(b) It established the right of government at any level to regulate any business activity if
it was deemed desirable for any reason.
(c) It established the right of government to regulate any and all businesses wherever it
was deemed desirable to promote competition.
(d) It established the right of government to regulate any business that had become
“clothed in the public interest.”
State mechanic lien laws
(a) required licensing of mechanics.
(b) permitted laborers to make claims against the assets of an employer or business if it
fell into bankruptcy.
(c) assured payment for value added by labor to property of third parties.
(d) gave property owners with goods held “in bailkment” a guarantee of
competent repair work by mechanics.
During World War I (1914″18), the government did not have to rely on which one of the
following reallocation devices?
(a) Inflation
(b) Taxes
(c) Borrowing
(d) Rationing
A government fulfills a protective function when it
(a) gives cash payments to the poor.
(b) provides funds for flood control projects and builds highways.
(c) prevents illegal seizure of private property.
(d) redistributes income.
Since the 1950s,
(a) U.S. holdings of foreign assets and foreign holdings of U.S. assets have risen
steadily.
(b) U.S. holdings of foreign assets and foreign holdings of U.S. holdings have declined.
(c) U.S. holdings of foreign assets have declined while foreign holdings of U.S.
assets have risen steadily.
(d) U.S. holdings of foreign assets have risen steadily while foreign holdings of
U.S.assets declined.
Fogel and Engerman (1974) are generally of the opinion thatAmerican slavery
(a) was antiquated, inefficient and was on the verge of existance.
(b) was thriving and profitable in the decades prior to the Civil War.
(c) provided conditions for a reasonably normal family life and standard of living
for the slaves with very little breakup of slave families or exploitation of slaves.
(d) was inferior to the wage-labor system in the South and would have likely
been replaced with time.
How can banks increase the amount of loanable funds available for private lending?
(a) By selling government securities to securities dealers and the Federal Reserve
System
(b) By buying government securities from securities dealers and the Federal Reserve
System
(c) By buying stocks, property and other assets to hold on behalf of the banks
(d) By holding 100 percent of customers’ deposits in bank vaults
The federal government incentive to support special-interest groups (steel, auto, drug,
environment) at the expense of unorganized, widely dispersed groups (for example,
taxpayers or consumers) occurs
(a) only when the benefits that accrue to the special-interest group exceed the
costs imposed on others.
(b) when nonspecial-interest voters are unconcerned or uninformed about the issue,
and campaign funds are readily available from the special-interest group.
(c) only if the government action is efficient.
(d) only if the government action will reduce the monopoly power of business or
labor, and thereby lead to an improvement in the general welfare.
In England, a system of established markets, the market overt and fairs, had been
established. The purpose was to
(a) provide an organized means for the exchange of produced goods or movable
property such as livestock.
(b) allow government officials to inspect the quality of the goods and regulate business
activities.
(c) provide for the legal transfer of title when chattel goods changed hands between
buyers and sellers.
(d) apply all of the above.
Under the bimetallic system, when did the U.S. experience a depletion in its reserve
species?
(a) When imports exceeded exports
(b) When exports exceeded imports
(c) When the U.S. closed its borders to all international trade
(d) When the trading partners of the U.S. refused all U.S. imports
What does international voluntary trade do?
(a) Exploits small countries
(b) Benefits all trading partners
(c) Places labor unions at an unfair disadvantage
(d) Forces productive domestic firms to close their doors
By 1900, what did the National Banking System under the Bank Act of 1863 (and
subsequent amendments) help national banks attain?
(a) A majority of banking establishments
(b) A majority of banking assets
(c) A monopoly issue of paper money
(d) All of the above