Exam 21: Political Economy and Public Choice

Use the following to answer questions Figure: Kidney Trade Ban Policy Spectrum -(Figure: Kidney Trade Ban Policy Spectrum)Refer to the figure.If there are only two candidates,A and B,and an open market for kidney trading is the only issue being debated in this election,which candidate will win the election?

The political power of farmers ________ as the share of farmers in the population decreased,because the benefits from farm subsidies became ________ concentrated.

In 2010,an unemployed United States Army veteran named Alvin Greene won the Democratic primary for the South Carolina Senate race.At the time of his victory,Greene had raised no money,had done no visible campaigning,had no Web site,and had not attended the state party's convention.There is no evidence of fraud.Two explanations for his victory involve his name: (1)Greene is a popular last name among African Americans,which encouraged African-American voters to support him at the ballot;and (2)Greene's name appeared above his opponent's name,Vic Rawl,which encouraged voters uninformed about either candidate to vote for Greene.How does Greene's victory illustrate rational ignorance?

Just before the 1972 election,________ sent a letter to 24 million Social Security recipients informing them of automatic cost of living increases in the future.

The Fanjul brothers are:

When we look around the world,democracies tend to be the wealthiest countries and tend to be the countries with the best record for supporting markets.

It is sometimes irrational to be ignorant.

Why are voters generally considered myopic?

Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen argued that famine in the history of the world could have been eliminated by:

Which of the following programs are the two largest sources of the United States government budget?

Use the following to answer questions Figure: Economic Freedom and Living Standards -(Figure: Economic Freedom and Living Standards)Refer to the figure.Based on the data in this chart,two countries that have about the same level of economic freedom but very different standards of living are:

If voters care about two issues such as taxes and war,then politicians:

Who will likely have the most incentive to be rationally informed about the effect of government policy on the price of sugar?

It is always irrational to be ignorant.

The key formula for political success behind the sugar quota is:

Suppose that a special interest group makes up 10% of the overall population.If a new proposal stands to generate $2 million in additional benefits to the group,the group will:

Which of the following statements is TRUE? I.Rationally ignorant people may favor price controls because they receive biased information. II.Rational ignorance may lead voters to have mistaken beliefs about the state of the economy. III.Rationally informed people can take advantage of the rationally ignorant by supporting policies that transfer wealth from the ignorant to the informed.

Economists would generally agree with this quote: "There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant."

Governments are more responsive to food crises: I.when there is more widespread newspaper circulation. II.if they are democracies. III.when there is more political competition.

Suppose that a special interest group makes up 2% of the population.If a policy transfers $600 to the special interest at a cost of $100,000 to society,will the special interest group lobby for this policy?