Economics 207: Introduction to Macroeconomics Midterm 1: Answers Instructions: You have 110 minutes to complete the following exam. Be sure to write your name and student id ON YOUR SCANTRON AND BELOW. Failure to do so will result in the loss of points from your total score. When you are complete, please slip your scantron form behind the first page of this test and turn both in at the front of class. This exam is to be taken without the aid of notes, books, friends, neighbors, or other outside sources of information. This includes programmable calculators with notes typed into its memory. All multiple choice questions are worth 4 points. Points possible are in parenthesis at the end of each open ended question. Name: Student ID: 1. Which of the following is not a factor of production: a. Land b. Labor c. Capital d. Entrepreneurship 2. U.S. Gross Domestic Product is closest to a. $18,000,000. b. $18,000,000,000. c. $18,000,000,000,000. d. $18,000,000,000,000,000. e. $18,000,000,000,000,000,000. 3. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the CPI in July 2010 was 226. This tells you that: a. Consumer prices were 226 percent higher than they were in the base year. b. The annualized CPI inflation rate in July was 226 percent. c. Consumer prices rose by 126 percent during the month of July. d. The prices of consumption goods have risen by 126 percent since the base year. e. The annualized inflation rate in July was 26 percent. 4. When the price level is rising at and the real interest rate is 1 percent per year, the nominal interest rate is 3 percent per year. a. 5 percent. b. 4 percent. c. 2 percent. d..03 percent. e. -2 percent.
5. Imagine an economy characterized by constantly increasing prices and consistently increasing production from year 0 to year 10. If we measure Real with a base year of year 5, which of the following graphs of Nominal and Real is plausible: Nominal Real Real Nominal 0 10 Year 0 10 Year A B Real Nominal Real Nominal 0 10 Year C 0 10 Year D 6. A producer maximizes profits by: a. Hiring workers until the marginal product of labor is zero. b. Hiring workers until the marginal product of labor is equal to the marginal product of capital. c. Hiring workers until the marginal product of labor is equal to the equilibrium wage. d. Hiring workers until the slope of the production function equals zero. 7. All else equal, per capita real gross domestic product grows a. When there is inflation. b. When there is an increase in population holding the labor participation rate constant. c. When there is an increase in the unemployment rate. d. When there is a decrease in population holding the labor force participation rate constant. e. Both A and C.
8. Which of the following is an economic public good? a. Fourth of July fireworks. b. Public education. c. Libraries. d. Vaccinations. e. All of the above. 9. A good with a positive externality will be a. underprovided by firms operating in the free market. b. provided at the optimal level by firms operating in the free market. c. provided at the optimal level by the government. d. overprovided by firms operating in the free market. e. never produced by either the government or free market firms. 10. Gross domestic product is a. a measure of a nation s total income. b. a measure of a nation s total wealth. c. a measure of a nation s price level. d. a measure of a nation s total income, total wealth, and price level. 11. In constant dollars, the measure of value of final goods and services produced over a given time period is: a. The Deflator. b. Unemployment Rate. c. Nominal Gross Domestic Product. d. Real Gross Domestic Product. e. Equal to total non-market production. 12. Which of the following is an investment good? a. A share of Microsoft stock. b. A government treasury bill. c. A mutual fund share. d. All of the above. 13. In 2007 the government of Kriegland spent $50 on new airplanes, $75 on paying tax collectors, $100 on social security payments to retirees, and paid the president of the country $500. In 2007, the government purchased dollars worth of. a. $725. b. $125. c. $575. d. $600.
14. Suppose over the course of a year, an economy produces $1.3 trillion consumer goods, $.6 trillion investment goods, $1 trillion of government services, imported $.2 trillion of goods, and exported $.5 trillion of goods. Further, welfare payments from the government to citizens equaled $.3 trillion and total taxes paid equaled $1.1 trillion. This economy s is closest to: a. $3.2 trillion. b. $3.5 trillion. c. $3.6 trillion. d. $2.6 trillion. e. $4.6 trillion. 15. Consider the following graph that displays the percentage change in Real over time. Percentage Change in Real 2 1 0-1 From this diagram, it is clear that: a. Prices have been continually rising in this economy. b. Nominal has been continually rising in this economy. c. Total production has never fallen. d. Two recessions occurred during this time period. Time 16. In order from smallest to largest, place the following components of American : a. Government spending, investment, consumption, net exports. b. Exports, imports, investment, government spending, consumption. c. Net exports, government spending, investment, consumption. d. Imports, exports, investment, consumption, government spending. e. Exports, imports, government spending, investment, consumption. 17. Consider Jenny who owns a car repair shop. For each car she works on, she makes purchases of $3 in oil, $5 in antifreeze, $15 in tools, and $1 in soap. Jenny also pays her employees $50 for each car they work on. When I brought my car in for repair, Jenny charged me $102. For that repair, how much did increase? a. $74. b. $102. c. $126. d. $176.
Use the following diagram to answer questions 18 and 19. f Factor Payments Intermediaries 5 Government I h Rev. Foreigners Imports Exports 18. Which of the following labels appears in place of number 5. a. Consumption. b. Firms c. Market for Goods and Services. d. Households 19. The sum of transactions represented by letter h equals: a. G + I + net exports b. savings. c. intermediaries + 5 + government + foreigners d. f. e. none of the above.
20. Which of the following is not a valid criticism of using to measure social well being? a. measures only market transactions and does not measure the value of non-market activities. b. measures only the size of the economy, not how production is distributed across the citizenry. c. measures only the amount of income generated, not the value added to an economy. d. measures only observable market transactions, not the illegal or under the table transactions. The following Table produces information about all of the production in the country of Vikingtown. Use it to answer questions 21 through 24. 2012 2013 2014 Price ($) Quantity Price ($) Quantity Price ($) Quantity Horned Helmets 5 100 6 110 5 110 Pickled Herring 2 200 2 200 2 240 Textbooks 20 50 25 60 30 20 21. Nominal in 2013 is closest to: a. $1600. b. $1900. c. $2200. d. $2500. e. $2800. 22. Using 2012 as the base year, real in 2014 is closest to: a. $1400. b. $1625. c. $1650. d. $2100. e. $2250. 23. Between 2013 and 2014, Vikingtown experienced: a. Deflation of about 24%. b. Deflation of about 4%. c. Inflation of about 14%. d. Inflation of about 19%. e. Inflation and deflation cannot be ascertained based upon the information given. 24. Between 2013 and 2014, Vikingtown experienced: a. An economic recession. b. An economic expansion. c. An economic recession inflation. d. An economic expansion and deflation.
Use the following data to answer questions 25 and 26. CPI (at end of Year listed year) 1975 55.5 1976 58.2 1977 62.1 1978 67.7 2003 184.6 2004 189.5 2005 196.4 2006 203.9 25. Which of the following is the closest to the inflation rate between 2005 and 2006? a. 0%. b. 7.5%. c. 3.67% d. 2.65% e. 3.81% 26. Comparing 1978 and 2006, which of the following is true? a. Inflation was lower between 2005 and 2006 than 1977 and 1978. b. The CPI was lower in 2006. c. Comparing inflation between 1978 and 2006 is impossible because the CPI does not allow for annual comparisons. d. The CPI and inflation was lower in 2006. e. None of the above are true. 27. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts Jody as being unemployed if she: a. Had a job last month but not this month. b. Doesn t have a job because the U.S. factory where she worked cannot compete with Chinese imports. c. Wants a job and looked for a job last year but has now stopped looking. d. Wants a job and is willing to take a job but after searching last week cannot find a job. e. Stays at home with her children. 28. The Luddites were a. Angry about technological change that displaced workers. b. Angry about inflation that caused a devaluation of workers savings. c. Angry about unemployment caused by seasonal changes in British coal mining. d. Angry that did not count the value of non-market production activities. e. Angry that the standard of living in Great Britain had remained unchanged during their lifetime.
29. The NBER classifies the economy as being in recession if the economic downturn: a. Has depth, duration and dispersion. b. Is transitory, terrible, and tremendous. c. Has inflation, unemployment, and low. d. Is deflationary, destructive, and detrending. e. The NBER uses a numerical rule to determine if an economic downturn exists. 30. The name of your professor in this class is: a. John Krieg b. Barrack Obama c. Mickey Mouse d. Ichiro Suzuki e. X. HINT: THE ANSWER IS A
1. In class we mentioned the fact that the U.S. Government has borrowed in excess of $17 trillion. During the 1990s the federal government reduced the average maturity of its debt obligations, replacing longer-maturity debts with shorter-maturity debts. The maturity of a debt is the length of time into the future when the amount must be paid back. What effect did this change in the average maturity of the government s debt have on its incentive to engage in inflationary policy? (10) Many types of answers were accepted as long as they highlighted the incentives to engage in inflation decrease as the maturity of debt shortens. 2. Consider the following data on American price indexes: Year Price Level 1997 159.1 1998 161.8 1999 168.8 2000 174.5 At the beginning of 1997, I purchased 100 shares of IBM for $103 per share. At the end of 2000, IBM was selling for $112 per share. Was this a good deal for me? Why or why not? (6) Two types of answers were accepted. a. Between 1997 and 2000, my shares of IBM appreciated 8.73%. At the same time, prices increased 9.67% meaning that when I sell my IBM shares in 2000, the proceeds purchase fewer goods and services than I would have been able to buy in 1997. In this case, this is a bad deal for me. b. Relative to holding cash, my IBM purchase nearly kept up with inflation. Thus, relative to holding cash, this was a good deal for me as it protected me against my cash losing value. 3. The following data was taken from the residents of Vikingville: Table 3: Vkingville Deflator, Real, and Nominal (Base Year Price Index =100 in 2000) Year Real (billions of $) Nominal (billions of $) Deflator 2009 6996 7661 C 2010 7206 B 120.7 2011 A 8811 124.9 a. What are the values of A, B and C? (4 ea.) All answers here use the formula: Nominal in year t = Real in year t Deflator in t/ 100 A: 7054.4 B: 8697.6 C: 109.5
b. Compared to 2000, were prices in 2009 higher or lower? (2) The price level in 2000 was 100 (it is the base year). In 2009 the price level was higher than 100.