Economic Challenges: Preparation for the exam: Quiz
Test your exam knowledge for the course Economic Challenges by solving the quiz below.
Note that solutions of the quiz are not provided! If you are unsure of the correct answers,
take the slides, open the Glossary and try to find the correct answers yourself! I am sure you
will find them, it is not hard to do. Looking yourself for the correct answers will be a useful
additional learning moment. I am convinced this method will further set you up for success
on the actual exam. And in case you are still unsure about the correct answers, come to the
Q&A session in week 7. In that session, I’ll gladly answer all remaining questions you might
have.
1. Provide a short definition for the following concepts:
a. Usury
b. Zero-sum game
c. Stationary state
d. Proletariat
e. Consumer surplus
f. Automatic stabiliser
g. Money illusion
h. Methodological individualism
i. Bounded rationality
j. Prospect theory
2. Identify the concept
a. The Greek name for household management, also the title of Xenophon’s book.
b. The first real school of thought in the history of economic thought, they
emphasize the importance of agriculture and perceive industry as unproductive.
c. Mathematical methodology of Jeremy Bentham for quantifying pleasure and
pain.
d. Metaphor for price adjustments, used in the work of Léon Walras.
e. The title of Joseph Schumpeter’s book, in which Schumpeter decides that
capitalism will not prevail and be replaced by socialism.
3. What is the difference between the following two concepts
a. Monetary policy & fiscal policy
b. Preventive checks & positive checks
c. General equilibrium theory & partial equilibrium theory
d. Booms & Busts
e. Capital & Income
4. Which economist is known for the use of the following concepts in his/her work?
a. The invisible hand
b. The corn model
c. Conspicuous consumption
d. Money illusion
e. Market socialism
5. What is the correct date or event, what is the correct book title?
a.
In what year was Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations published?
b.
When was the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
published?
c.
Which book by John Maynard Keynes was published in 1936 and
revolutionized macroeconomic theory?
d.
Which book, written by Thorstein Veblen in 1898, critiques consumer culture
and the display of wealth?
e.
When was the first Nobel Prize in Economics awarded?
f.
What is the title of Thomas Piketty’s work that examines wealth inequality
and its historical development?
g.
What significant economic event occurred in October 1929?
6. Explain
a. Explain the difference between use value and exchange value. State Xenophon’s
definition of wealth? Give an example of something that does not belong to
wealth according to Xenophon.
b. Explain the price-specie flow mechanism of David Hume.
c. Explain on the basis of a numerical example what comparative advantage means.
d. Explain the last 3 of the 6 modes of production discussed in the Communist
Manifesto of Marx and Engels.
e. Explain what is the difference between the Old and New Institutional School?
What is Gary Becker’s view on addiction?
f. Explain what bounded rationality and the theory of satisficing of Herbert Simon
means.
7. Discuss how the work of thinker(s) X is relevant for the modern economic challenge Y.
a. Aquinas and high transfer prices in international football.
b. Mercantilists and Brexit.
c. Karl Marx and the high number of burn-outs in the healthcare sector.
d. John von Neumann and the US/North-Korea conflict.