Exam 6: The Economics of Political Action

Assume that you are a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from your home state and district. Which of the following best explains why you have a strong incentive to get the federal government to finance pork-barrel projects in your district?

Which of the following factors explains why managers of government agencies (the public sector) have little incentive to operate efficiently?

Which one of the following is a major difference between market and collective action through government?

In economics, actions by individuals and interest groups designed to influence public policy in a manner that will either directly or indirectly redistribute more income to themselves are known as

Which of the following statements is False ?

Which of the following refers to when legislators trade votes on legislation?

In which of the following situations is the political process likely to result in the inefficient and wasteful use of resources?

Payments that users (consumers) are required to make if they want to receive certain services provided by the government are called

Suppose domestic automobiles were allocated in the United States the way public education is allocated. Describe how this system might work.

Which of the following factors explains why managers of government agencies have little incentive to achieve operational efficiency?

Public choice analysis indicates that

Legislation that contains a number of projects benefiting local interests at the expense of the general taxpayer is called

Subsidizing coal mining and orange growing have both been found to be economically inefficient in that the costs outweigh the benefits. However, a subsidy on coal mining would help the coal producers in West Virginia and a subsidy on orange growing would help the orange farmers in Florida. So the senator from West Virginia approaches the senator from Florida and says that he will vote for the orange subsidy if the Florida senator votes for the coal-mining subsidy. The Florida senator agrees. Which term best describes what just happened?

Economic theory leads us to expect that the typical voter will be uninformed on many issues because

Senator Spendall is able to use his position on an important committee to set aside government funding specifically for a new bridge in his hometown. This is an example of

For activities in which the benefits are concentrated and the costs widespread, governments are likely to undertake

Current tax rates are insufficient to finance the benefits promised by both the Social Security and Medicare programs. Are these unfunded promises surprising according to economic theory?

Which of the following is a predictable side effect of increased government activity (e.g., taxes and subsidies) designed to redistribute income among citizens?

In 2006, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) spent over $70 million on lobbying-related expenses in an attempt to get policies enacted that would benefit retirees. In economics, the term used to describe such activity is

Most voters will likely be concerned with