DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY
MASTER’S COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
DECEMBER 5, 2014
6:00 P.M. TO 9:30 P.M.
PROCTOR: J. HUMMEL
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.
Answer ONLY the specified number of questions from the options provided in each
section. Do not answer more than the required number of questions. Each section takes
one hour.
2.
Your answers must be on the paper provided. No more than one answer per page. Do not
answer two questions on the same sheet of paper.
3.
If you use more than one sheet of paper for a question, write “Page 1 of 2” and
“Page 2 of 2.”
4.
Write ONLY on one side of each sheet. Use only pen. Answers in pencil will be
disqualified.
5.
Write ------ END ----- at the end of each answer.
6.
Write your exam identification number in the upper right-hand corner of each sheet of
paper.
7.
Write the question number in the upper right-hand corner of each sheet of paper.
Section 3: Applied Economics—Answer Any Two Questions.
3A. (Econ 212: Haight) Consider economic growth in the developing world.
a. Explain the role of agriculture generally in development. Is it important? Why?
b. Draw the Fei-Ranis Two-Sector Labor Surplus Growth Model. What are its
implications? How does it differ from the Neo-classical Two-Sector Growth model?
3B. (Econ 200: Foldvary) This is a question about the 9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Answer all parts:
a. Analyze and interpret the meaning and significance of the 9th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. (The constitution of California has a similar prescription.)
b. How would the 9th Amendment be applied to U.S. and California law and regulations,
based on your interpretation in (a)?
c. Why is the 9th Amendment so ignored by policy makers and the legal system?
d. What changes in the federal and state constitutions, governance, and legal systems
would provide a greater application of the 9th Amendment to statutes and regulations?
(over)
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DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY
MASTER’S COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
DECEMBER 5, 2014
6:00 P.M. TO 9:30 P.M.
PROCTOR: J. HUMMEL
3C. (Econ 205A: Holian) How many steps would you say there are to conducting a cost-benefit
analysis (CBA)? Please list no more than ten of them. Most authors include measurement and
monetization of impacts as two separate steps. Describe how these two steps can be
accomplished for a CBA of reducing class size in a typical California elementary school district.
3D. (Econ 221: Holian) This question asks you to compare and contrast three mathematical
models of oligopoly. First, identify the economist who is credited with developing each model.
Second, describe some general (or qualitative) differences between them. Finally, assume a linear
demand and marginal cost approximate this market (such as, P = 13 - Q, where P is the market
price and Q is the aggregate quantity produced by both firms, and total production costs for each
firm are one dollar times the number of units produced.) What are the equilibrium values of P, Q
and the quantities produced by the individual firms in two of the oligopoly models you listed?
3E. (Econ 113A: Hummel) Discuss the pricing of slaves in the pre-Civil War American South.
What determined a slave’s price, and what factors caused it to vary, both among different slaves
and over a slave’s life? Show how slave pricing relates to the pricing of land and of modern
financial assets, and explain why this ensured that slaveholders on average earned market rates of
return. How did the bearing of slave children and the threat of running away affect the price of
slaves? Under what circumstances would manumission through self-purchase be lucrative for
slaveholders?
3F. (Econ 232: Foldvary) Analyze the incidence of a tax levied by the US federal government on
the profit from completely elastic and mobile financial and real capital,
a. given that no other economy has such a tax, and
b. given that all economies have such a tax at the same rate.
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