Exam 31: Public Choice and Special Interest Group Politics

Congressperson A: "If you approve that new water treatment plant in my district, I'll vote to keep the Air Force base open in your district." Congressperson B: "It's a deal." This is an example of

Suppose U.S. peanut butter producers are facing increased foreign competition. Which argument is least likely to be used by the U.S. firms' lobbyists to urge legislation to restrict imports of peanut butter?

Special interest groups are usually

Political candidates in a two-person race prefer to be viewed as occupying the center of the political distribution because

Persons who choose not to become informed on political and governmental matters because they feel that the costs of becoming informed exceed the benefits of becoming informed are

In a simple majority vote on a public project,

Which of the following statements is a public choice economist most likely to agree with?

Congressman A promises to vote for a bill that Congressmen B and C are sponsoring, and in return both B and C promise to vote for a future bill that A is sponsoring. This practice is called

"My opponent in this election says she wants a balanced federal budget, but won't say how it would be achieved." This candidate is trying to

Which of the following is false?

Exhibit 31-1 -Refer to Exhibit 31-1. The exhibit shows the breakdown of benefits and costs for a four-person town of a proposed $1,200 purchase of books for the public library. How will each of the four persons, A-D, vote? (The first answer in the list is how person A would vote, the second is how person B would vote, and so on, so that "for" indicates that the individual would be in favor of having the additional books purchased by the library.)

Public choice is concerned with

Exhibit 31-3 -Refer to Exhibit 31-3. The exhibit shows the breakdown of benefits and costs for a five-person community considering whether to purchase a $5,000 statue of Adam Smith to put in the center of the public square. If simple majority voting determines the outcome, the statue _______________ be purchased, and the total costs are ______________ the total benefits of the statue.

A public choice theorist would be most likely to say that government failure is a consequence of the

Politicians will usually