Economics 1740
VERSION A - MARK ON YOUR SCANTRON ANSWER SHEET
Fall, 2002
Dr. Alston , Quiz #5, Walton and Rockoff, Chapters 9 & 10
1. The sharp decline in domestic freight costs during the antebellum period was
primarily due to the introduction of
a. railroads.
b. paved roads.
c. clipper ships.
d. canals and steamboats.
2. What is not correct about the three major gateways into the western territories
in the 1800s?
a. The Northeastern was composed of canals, roads, and railroads and
connected Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and Baltimore.
b. The Southern was comprised of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri
Rivers and ended in New Orleans.
c. The Mid-Atlantic connected Atlanta and Charlotte to Washington, D.C.
with roads and railroads.
d. The one that connected the Great Lakes to New York was largely
comprised primarily of canals and waterways.
3. Which statement best describes the relationship between steamboats,
keelboats, and flatboats on the Mississippi River in the antebellum period?
a. Steamboats were substitutes for both keelboats and flatboats.
b. Steamboats were complements for both keelboats and flatboats.
c. Steamboats were substitutes for keelboats and complements for flatboats.
d. Steamboats were substitutes for flatboats and complements for keelboats.
4. What was not a benefit of the development of a national market?
a. It increased production by reducing "tragedy of the commons" problems.
b. It permitted greater division of labor.
c. It enabled people and organizations to engage more in their comparative
advantages.
d. It led to lower costs because of increasing returns to scale that could be
taken advantage of in more industries.
5. “Antebellum transportation improvements encouraged the South to
specialize in cotton, while depending on the West for food and the Northeast
for manufactured goods.” This statement
a. describes Rostow’s stages of growth model.
b. describes North’s interregional growth hypothesis.
c. describes Thomas Jefferson’s vision of the U.S. economy.
d. is supported by most contemporary economic historians.
6. Which of the following phrases does not describe an essential characteristic of
a factory?
a. produces a standardized product to be sold in a wide market
b. relies on stocks and bonds in order to finance plants and machinery
c. assemble workers under a definite organizational discipline
d. carries out complex operations in one building or in adjacent buildings
7. Francis Lowell’s Boston Manufacturing Company
a. specialized in the production of one type of cloth.
b. combined all four stages of cloth production in one plant.
c. sold its product throughout the United States.
d. used power looms for weaving.
e. all of the above
8. According to Walton and Rockoff, what is not a pre-condition for factory
production and industrialization?
a. standardized parts
b. sufficient power and energy
c. continuous process production
d. a sufficiently centralized administrative structure
9. The development of interchangeable parts by Whitney and North allowed
a. machinery to be replaced by skilled labor.
b. capital-labor proportions in the United States to remain equal to those in
England.
c. producers to raise the price of guns.
d. skilled labor to be replaced by unskilled labor and machines.
10. The antebellum period was characterized by many changes in tariff rates.
What best describes the effect of removing a tariff on foreign cotton textiles?
a. The total supply curve of textiles would shift back.
b. The price of both foreign-made and domestic-made textiles would
decrease.
c. The price of foreign-made textiles would decrease and the price of
domestic-made textiles would increase.
d. The total (foreign and domestically produced) quantity of textiles
purchased in the United States would decrease.
e. The real income of textile consumers would decrease.
ANSWERS: Quiz No. 5, Econ 1740 Fall, 2002, Walton and Rockoff, Chapters 9 &
10, Version A
1. ANSWER: d. canals and steamboats.
2. ANSWER: c. The Mid-Atlantic connected Atlanta and Charlotte to
Washington, D.C. with roads and railroads.
3. ANSWER: c. Steamboats were substitutes for keelboats and complements for
flatboats.
4. ANSWER: a. It increased production by reducing "tragedy of the commons"
problems.
5. ANSWER: b. describes North’s interregional growth hypothesis.
6. ANSWER: b. relies on stocks and bonds in order to finance plants and
machinery
7. ANSWER: e. all of the above
8. ANSWER: d. a sufficiently centralized administrative structure
9. ANSWER: d. skilled labor to be replaced by unskilled labor and machines.
10. ANSWER: b. The price of both foreign-made and domestic-made textiles
would decrease. (Note: This is the exact opposite of the problem in the
Economic Insight.)
Return to Economics 1740 Announcement/Practice Exam Page