In addition to human devastation, war influences the amount of real output,
employment and prices by diverting resources away from private uses.
The middle Atlantic colonies were more popular than New England as destinations for
immigrants before 1770 because of their more liberal religious attitudes and the
availability of land.
Immigrants were valued as a vital source of labor and, consequently, they were greeted
with open arms after the 1830s.
Unlike the 1930s, the Federal Reserve System followed an easy money policy in the
first decade of the 2000s and, consequently, was able to prevent a severe recession from
following a period of notably high economic activity.
Installment-plan buying permits consumers to use the income generated from their
private assets to pay for goods and services.
The number of people living in urban areas fell after the Civil War and then increased
as World War I approached.
Indentured servants were white colonists who sold themselves into slavery when their
farms in America failed.
Relative U.S. real wages and incomes played a role in influencing the decisions of
foreign migrants.
Railroads attracted funds from foreign investors.
Commonwealth v Hunt was a pivotal case in labor history, since it marked the first time
in which unions and some of their activities were not found illegal.
By comparing the market value of livestock, corn, wheat and oats in 1880 to 1900, one
can see that agricultural growth in the South did not occur.
Borrowers rely on financial intermediaries to hold and find uses for their funds that
promise a positive expected rate of return.
Since the economy was operating at less than full capacity when the U.S. entered World
War II (1941″45), price controls did not surface until the end of the war.
The Employment Act of 1946 continues to impact us today. It gives the federal
government official responsibility in managing full-employment efforts in the U.S.
through fiscal policy.
Like the contemporary forms of transportationairplanes, automobiles and
trucksrailroads shifted from being perceived as a private luxury to a public necessity.
Industrialization through heavy capital investments required savings by households,
businesses and/or government bodies.
Industrialization and urbanization in the U.S. occurred simultaneously between 1860
and 1910.
There is no possible economic relationship between the birth rate and the availability of
arable land.
Under the U.S. Constitution, each state gave up its right to issue money, borrow, levy
taxes and regulate the value of money on behalf of national efforts.
Inflation burdens those individuals living on fixed incomes.
Slaver owners were optimistic about the economic future of slavery on the eve of the
Civil War.
By the end of the colonial period, the Middle Colonies’ population gained over New
England but the Southern population continued to dominate.
According to Fogel and Engerman (1974), Northern farmers extensively utilized hired
labor.
The growth and development of the U.S. economy during its period of rapid
industrialization was largely influenced by centralized economic planning.
The natural rate of unemployment is not zero. It is at least 5 percent, allowing for
individuals who are frictionally and structurally unemployed.
The pure competitor usually charges higher prices and offers more output than the
monopolist or oligopolist.
Political and social desires to increase the “quality of life” in the U.S. led to an increase
in the federal funding of public libraries, television and radio as well as increases and
broadened uses of federal lands, waters and parks.
The average number of weekly hours worked in manufacturing began to decline
during World War I (1914″18).
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Act of 1887 gave the federal government
rate-setting powers.
Economic prosperity returned under the New Deal programs of the 1930s.
During the period of industrialization in the U.S., real income in the agricultural sector
fell.
Olson (1971) argues that the gains from private competition cannot be exceeded by the
gains from collective action.
The decisions of today have consequences that lie in the future.
The Great Depression tried and tested the Gold Standard and this standard met the
challenge.
Article I, Section 8, clause I of the federal Constitution requires that all “Duties,
Imposts, and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” Hence, the
Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1913) was needed to grant
constitutionality to the unequal taxation of land, its products and income.
Today, about one out of four legal immigrants arrives in the U.S with experience in a
professional occupation.
Wartime inflation occurs when war requires a country to shift resources away from
efficient uses into war-related production.
On the eve of the Civil War, what was the number one export in the U.S.?
(a) Cotton
(b) Wheat
(c) Gold
(d) Shipping services
Which of the following contributed to the clear advancement of the automobile and
steel industries?
(a) Oligopoly behavior
(b) Voluntary export restrictions
(c) Quotas set for the number of foreign products entering the U.S.
(d) Dynamic entrepreneurialism
What is the total money value of all goods and services evaluated at market prices
called?
(a) Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
(b) Labor productivity
(c) Wealth
(d) Capita
The Industrial Revolution was centered in Great Britain, and the British
(a) tried to achieve a technological monopoly.
(b) were willing to freely share industrial technology with their colonies but no other
nations.
(c) believed in free trade and the sale and export of technology to any nation that
wanted to pay for it.
(d) were willing to share their technology with other nations but not their colonies
because they wished the colonies to specialize in the production of agriculture and raw
materials for export to England.
Compared to earlier times, the period of the 1950s to the early 1960s was one
characterized by
(a) temporary deficit spending of the government.
(b) permanent deficit spending of the government.
(c) temporary surplus spending of the government.
(d) permanent surplus spending of the government.
The premium on a college education increases when
(a) the market demand for knowledge and skilled workers decreases, and all else is held
constant.
(b) the market supply of knowledge and skilled workers increases, and all else is held
constant.
(c) the growth in the demand for knowledge and skilled workers outpaces the growth in
supply.
(d) the growth in the supply of knowledge and skilled workers outpaces the growth in
demand.
“Internal economies” derive from all of the following except
(a) Division of labor
(b) Production of standardized products
(c) The use of mass production techniques
(d) There is no “except”; all of the above apply
According to Thomas (1954), increased immigration provided incentive to invest in
capital that was
(a) labor-using, resulting in capital widening.
(b) labor-using, resulting in capital deepening.
(c) labor-saving, resulting in capital widening.
(d) labor-saving, resulting in capital widening.
According to Hughes and Cain (2011), all of the following have been primary motives
throughout American history for government regulation except
(a) the existence of monopoly power
(b) quality control of products and services
(c) funding of government activities through taxation
(d) raising wages and improving working conditions
With regard to the rule of caveat emptor in colonial America, which of the following
does not apply?
(a) “Let the buyer beware.”
(b) This rule largely replaced the earlier rule of markets, market overt, by late colonial
times.
(c) It could be applied anywhere without the protective regulations of colonial officials.
(d) It was meant to cover fraud, and aggrieved buyers could always sue sellers in civil
courts for damages.
The Civil War (1861″1865) was the root of which modern-day belief(s)?
(a) The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits slavery and
involuntary servitude in the U.S.
(b) The belief that wars can stimulate industrialization.
(c) The belief that wars can effectively mobilize resources, boost employment and
heighten production without inflationary consequences.
(d) All of the above.
During World War II, a labor shortage emerged in some markets. New recruits into the
civilian labor force included
(a) teenage females.
(b) married women.
(c) retired people 65 years of age or older.
(d) all of the above.
Important sources of conflict in colonial America include conflicts between all of the
following except
(a) Slaves and masters
(b) Native Americans and colonists
(c) Puritans, Roman Catholics, and Protestants
(d) Indentured servants and masters
Many of the Founding Fathers considered the emancipation of slaves to be
(a) a necessary evil in overcoming the British during the war.
(b) less important than the issues of whether blacks should be prevented from coming to
the United States and whether freed slaves should be deported.
(c) paramount in establishing the new nation on a solid ideological foundation.
(d) a states’ rights issue.
Licensing and regulation of business activities by colonial governments
(a) occurred only infrequently.
(b) was a common practice in early colonial times but the British eventually replaced it
with a policy of laissez faire before the American Revolution.
(c) was very common throughout the colonial period just as it is today.
(d) is basically inconsistent with American concepts of freedom of enterprise and so has
never been common practice in either colonial or modern times.
The National Banking System under the Bank Act of 1863 created a banking system
comprised of a mixture of
(a) special state charters.
(b) nonchartered private banks.
(c) free banks.
(d) all of the above.
A review of U.S. history provides evidence that
(a) class mobility is restricted.
(b) race and gender barriers simply cannot be dismantled.
(c) the wealthy and idle rich class has deep and permanent roots in the U.S.
(d) there are no social barriers that cannot be overcome in the U.S.
The growth of total railroad mileage
(a) was far greater after the Civil War than before.
(b) was maximized in miles built per decade before 1860.
(c) was a free-market phenomenon, not subject to government subsidies.
(d) was not subject to business cycle fluctuations.
The Township survey system set up by the Northwest Ordinance of 1785 established
(a) a 50 square-mile township based on colonial New York.
(b) an 84 square-mile township base on colonial Virginia.
(c) a 36 square-mile township based on colonial Vermont.
(d) an 18 square-mile township based on colonial Rhode Island.
The income elasticity for cars is high. During the late 1960s, some U.S. citizens
experienced a decrease in their real incomes. Consequently, they purchased
(a) more expensive U.S. cars.
(b) more foreign imports due to their relatively low costs.
(c) used U.S. cars in order to avoid foreign imports.
(d) U.S. cars of any type to avoid foreign imports.
The American birth rate in 1860″1910
(a) was kept high by the tendency of immigrant children to have large families.
(b) increased steadily.
(c) declined, on average.
(d) rose dramatically after the Civil War due to the large numbers of immigrants having
children in the U.S. to get U.S. citizenship.
Which of the following occurred during World War I (1914″18)?
(a) Private markets largely influenced resource allocation.
(b) Non-market controls imposed by the government.
(c) New income taxes financed 100 percent of the war.
(d) Corporate America voluntarily financed 100 percent of the war efforts to protect
their interests.
From 1789 to 1838, state banks
(a) served as financial intermediations and paid out paper money to borrowers.
(b) were corporations.
(c) engaged in agricultural activities.
(d) established demand deposits against which checks could be written by the borrower.
By 1860,
(a) less than one-third of Southern farmers owned slaves.
(b) most of the workers on Northern farmers were hired laborers.
(c) immigrants supplied a significant amount of labor to Northern and Southern
farmers.
(d) all of the above.
Internal economies in the U.S. during its period of industrialization involved the
(a) production of goods in factories.
(b) production in small, isolated towns spread throughout the U.S.
(c) production of goods in factories grouped together in the same geographical region.
(d) production of goods in isolated factories spread throughout the U.S.
What does a study of immigration figures before 1921 indicate?
(a) An overwhelming majority of immigrants came from the British Isles.
(b) Voluntary immigrations slowed as 1921 approached.
(c) The diversification of immigrants increased since the colonial period of U.S. history.
(d) It is not possible to link immigration patterns and growth in the U.S. economy.
The largest percent of colonial trade (both exports and imports) was with
(a) the United Kingdom.
(b) Southern Europe.
(c) Africa.
(d) the West Indies.
How much does it cost to tax a dollar of revenue away from the private sector and
transfer it to the government in order to bail out a specific industry?
(a) One dollar
(b) Less than one dollar because the administration of and compliance with the tax laws
creates jobs for people
(c) Less than a dollar because of the excess burden resulting from the elimination
of productive exchanges by the taxes
(d) More than a dollar because collection of the taxes requires resources that would
otherwise be available for private sector production
What do diseconomies of cities include?
(a) Pollution
(b) Crime
(c) Congestion
(d) All of the above
The Sherman Act of 1890 and the Clayton Act of 1914 were Antitrust Acts whose
purposes included all of the following except
(a) The maintenance of a competitive economy
(b) The prevention of monopolies, combinations and other conspiracies in restraint of
trade
(c) The prevention of price discrimination that reduces competition
(d) The prevention of labor union activity that reduces competition in the labor market
Which of the following arguments is consistent with the claims of Robert Fogel (1989)?
(a) The success of slave labor was tied closely to the number of labor hours per year.
(b) Compared to the slaves, the self-sufficient farmers in the North and those in the
South were more likely to not work on Sundays, face a shorter work day and experience
regular rest times.
(c) The productivity of slave labor increased with the use of specialization and rhythm.
(d) All of the above.
After World War II (1941″45), the U.S. public debt
(a) remained unchanged in 1947 even though the government ran a budget surplus
(government expenditures fell below revenues in 1947).
(b) continued to rise even though the government ran a budget surplus at times.
(c) decreased even though the government ran a budget surplus continuously.
(d) remained high while the government continuously ran deficits.
When land across the mountains became available in the early nineteenth century,
(a) much of New England was simply abandoned by people primarily interested in
farming.
(b) live-stock raising, dairying and lumbering kept rural New England from being
totally abandoned.
(c) very few New England farmers elected to stay in New England.
(d) Manufacturing quickly replaced New England farming.
After the depression of the 1930s and the interruption of World War II, in the post-war
period (1945″50) private investment
(a) fell back to the 1920s level.
(b) rose to unprecedented levels.
(c) collapsed in the 1948 downturn and then returned to the stagnation levels of the
1930s.
(d) did none of the above.