Question 1

The cliché that "the punishment should fit the crime" originated in the writings of:

Accepted Answer

A)  plato.
B)  thomas aquinas.
C)  jeremy bentham.
D)  david hume.
E)  thomas hobbes. C

Question 2

Management of the economy via extensive regulations and laws specified by the national government is most consistent with:

Accepted Answer

A)  syndicalism.
B)  mercantilism.
C)  communism, the next stage after a marxist "dictatorship of the proletariat.
D)  classical liberalism. B

Question 3

The theory that in equilibrium, workers' wages will barely be adequate for biological needs is known as the:

Accepted Answer

A)  labor theory of value.
B)  convergence hypothesis.
C)  subsistence theory of wages.
D)  indicative planning model. C

Question 4

Which of the following characteristics is least representative of socialism?

Accepted Answer

A)  personal profits are derived through market competition
B)  it includes private ownership of the means of production
C)  it involves centralized decision making
D)  it includes the pursuit of collective goals

Question 5

Nationalism, self-sufficiency, and imperial power were central concerns of:

Accepted Answer

A)  french physiocrats.
B)  thomas malthus.
C)  mercantilists.
D)  adam smith.
E)  neoclassical economists.

Question 6

According to Karl Marx, revolution would inevitably come from the oppressed workers, known as the:

Accepted Answer

A)  proletariat.
B)  patricians.
C)  bourgeoisie.
D)  panacea.
E)  petit bourgeoisie.

Question 7

Social welfare is maximized when a "hedonistic calculus" regulates all human action according to the interventionist "liberal":

Accepted Answer

A)  john stuart mill.
B)  thorstein veblen.
C)  milton friedman.
D)  jeremy bentham.

Question 8

The concept of a "just price" that condemned market forces for yielding unjust results was developed in the writings of:

Accepted Answer

A)  antoine augustin cournot.
B)  fabius maximus.
C)  karl marx.
D)  demosthenes.
E)  thomas aquinas.

Question 9

The word economics derives from an early Greek term that means management of a:

Accepted Answer

A)  business.
B)  government.
C)  househo
D)  financial institution.
E)  industry.

Question 10

Of the following, the thinkers who viewed markets most favorably and who would consequently have been least likely to condemn payments of interest as immoral or unjustified by productivity would have been:

Accepted Answer

A)  richard cantillon and françois quesnay.
B)  aristotle and plato.
C)  thomas aquinas and albertus magnus.
D)  ibn kaldur and abu hamid al-ghazali.

Question 11

Who was the social theorist that proposed socialism should serve as an intermediate stage on the way to an ideal communist society

Accepted Answer

A)  karl marx
B)  william domhoff
C)  erik wright
D)  wright mills

Question 12

The notion that communism should be imposed on a nation's rulers so that they would neither be tempted by possessions nor diverted from the task of wise governance was proposed by:

Accepted Answer

A)  plato.
B)  xenophon.
C)  aristotle.
D)  protagoras.
E)  adam smith

Question 13

The first comprehensive work on economics written in English was authored by Adam Smith in 1776 and entitled "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the:

Accepted Answer

A)  laws of supply and demand."
B)  wealth of nations."
C)  movements of prices in competition."
D)  incomes of different social classes."

Question 14

Medieval scholastics, early Islamic thinkers, and Aristotle all agreed that:

Accepted Answer

A)  the accumulation of gold within a nation-state would eventually offset any trade surplus.
B)  payments of interest [usury] should be prohibited.
C)  commerce was modeled on a circular flow.
D)  surpluses are enhanced through skilled management.

Question 15

Supernatural power, divinity, and gifts of nature are integral to the explanations of economic events developed by:

Accepted Answer

A)  physiocrats.
B)  german historicists.
C)  modern monetarists.
D)  mercantilists.
E)  keynesians.

Question 16

Which of the following was a belief shared by utopian and scientific socialists?

Accepted Answer

A)  the labor of the middle class determines the value of a product.
B)  class struggle is the necessary means to achieve social change.
C)  private property should be abolish

Question 17

The Marxist concept of surplus value would not include income received in the form of:

Accepted Answer

A)  wages.
B)  rent.
C)  interest.
D)  corporate profits.
E)  proprietor profits.

Question 18

What early philosopher described this type of developmental cycle: people move from a rural, nomadic society with little economic surplus to an agricultural society with greater economic surplus and population growth?:

Accepted Answer

A)  physiocrat quesnay who said the production from land created a surplus known as the net product.
B)  non-western philosopher ibn khaldun.
C)  non-western philosopher abu hamid al-ghazali.
D)  thomas malthus, who came up with a theory on population.

Question 19

Adam Smith's theory of economic growth relies upon a ________ to kick-start the process, and then _________ to continue it.

Accepted Answer

A)  higher wages./ the wages fund.
B)  division of labor/ higher wages.
C)  explosive population growth / economies of scale.
D)  division of labor / capital accumulation.

Question 20

The concept of _____ was illustrated by _____ with the quote, "The loss of a little finger would keep the average European from sleeping that night, ... but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the loss of millions of his brethren."

Accepted Answer

A)  opportunity cost; john maurice clark
B)  self interest; adam smith
C)  scarcity; thorstein b. veblen
D)  social security; george bush

Exam 1: History and Philosophy of Economics Economic Theory and Thinkers