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Final Book Exam Study Guide
Quiz 4 Chapter 4 and Introduction of Freakonomics.
1. What country made abortion illegal in 1966 and is cited as evidence of a correlation between
abortion and violence at the beginning of Chapter 4 in Freakonomics?
Romania
2. What is the name of the court case in America that dictates America’s legal stance on
abortion?
Roe V. Wade
3. What is the primary reason the authors argue the crime rate dropped in the 1990s?
Abortion was legalized in the 1970s
4. Name one of the top 8 most frequently cited crime-drop explanations in articles published
from 1991 to 2001 in the ten largest circulation papers in the LexisNexis database.
Police strategies, prisons, changes in drug markets, aging population, tougher gun laws,
strong economy, increased police, all other explanations
5. Sharing a name with a famous TV family, what is the name of the “most famous” gun control
law in America, as cited by the authors in the chapter?
Brady Act
For questions 6-10, please identify answer true or false.
6. __T__ The authors suggest it costs about $25,000 per year to keep a person in prison
7. __F (14)__ The authors suggest the numbers of police officers in the 1990s rose about 54
percent.
8. __T__ Rudolph Giuliani was the name of the Mayor of New York City during most of the
1990s.
9. __T__ The authors cite how in Switzerland, “every adult male is issued an assault rifle” for
militia duty.”
10. ___F (1.5)_ The authors suggest there are approximately 5 million abortions in the US
every year.
Quiz 7 Chapter 1: “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers
Have in Common?”
1. Which of the following statements best captures the essence of economic analysis?
a)
b)
c)
d)
No pain, no gain.
Everything has a price.
Incentives matter.
Scarcity is only relative.
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2. Which of the following is not an example of an economic incentive?
a) A factory is required to pay a fine for each unit of pollution it produces in excess of the legal
limit.
b) A tax is imposed on each bottle of French wine imported into the country.
c) A jewelry salesman is paid on commission.
d) Posting the pictures of convicted prostitutes on the Internet.
3. Which of the following explains why people are willing to give more blood when there is only a
moral incentive than when they are offered a small amount of cash (an economic incentive)?
a) The value of the moral incentive (praise for their kind-hearted act) is greater than the value
of the economic incentive.
b) The value of the moral incentive (praise for their kind-hearted act) is equal to the value of the
economic incentive.
c) The value of the moral incentive (praise for their kind-hearted act) is less than the value of
the economic incentive.
d) None of the above.
4.
Some school teachers cheat because:
a)
b)
c)
d)
high-stakes testing encourages them to cheat.
they believe that the No Child Left Behind law is an unfair law.
incentives are set up to reward teachers for improving their student’s test scores.
all of the above.
5.
Which of the following is not a distinguishing characteristic of the typical teacher who was
caught cheating in the Chicago school system?
a)
b)
c)
d)
The person was teaching in one of the lowest scoring classrooms.
Someone who began teaching in the system before 1996.
The teacher was a male.
The teacher was young and less qualified than average.
6.
It’s difficult to document cheating among sumo wrestlers in Japan because:
a)
b)
c)
d)
sumo wrestling is a Japanese sport associated with the civility and honor of Japan.
there is very little cheating among sumo wrestlers.
it is difficult to find quantitative methods to analyze sumo wrestling.
there are no data retained for sumo wrestling matches after the event is completed.
7.
In which of the following scenarios would cheating in a sumo match be
most likely to occur?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Wrestler A has a 6-8 record and wrestler B has an 8-6 record.
Wrestler A has a 7-7 record and wrestler B has a 10-4 record.
Wrestler A has an 8-6 record and wrestler B has a 7-7 record.
Wrestler A has a 7-7 record and wrestler B has a 7-7 record.
8.
What incentive would a sumo wrestler with a winning record in a tournament have to help
an opponent who is “on the bubble”?
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a)
b)
c)
d)
The good feeling he gets from helping his fellow man, i.e., a moral incentive.
The knowledge that the opponent would do the same thing for him in the next
tournament, which translates into one less win he has worry about the next time around.
By losing an occasional match, the wrestler with the winning record can lull future
opponents into believing that he is not that good.
A sumo wrestler with a winning record in a tournament has no incentive to help an
opponent who is “on the bubble.”
9.
Which of the following characteristics distinguishes white-collar crime
from street crime?
a)
b)
c)
d)
There are no good data on white collar crime.
Only a very small fraction of white-collar criminals are caught.
There is frequently no obvious victim in the case of white-collar crime.
All of the above.
10.
Based on Paul Feldman’s “honor-system” bagel business, what can we reasonably
conclude about the honesty of people?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Most people are honest most of the time.
Almost all people are honest all of the time.
Most people are dishonest most of the time.
Almost all people are dishonest some of the time.
Quiz 8 Chapter 2: “How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of RealEstate Agents?”
I.
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. The Ku Klux Klan’s goals were largely achieved by:
a)
b)
c)
d)
intimidation and violence.
the movement of blacks to northern industrial cities.
the use of secretive methods.
Jim Crow laws passed in southern states.
2. In which of the following cases did the U.S. Supreme Court essentially approve racial
segregation?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Brown v. Board of Education.
Roe v. Wade.
Plessy v. Ferguson.
Gore v. Florida.
3. The major similarity between the Ku Klux Klan and real estate agents is that:
a)
b)
c)
d)
both groups best achieve their goals by possessing crucial information other parties do not.
both groups use encrypted phrases they share only with the media.
while both groups exhibit the image of high pay, they work for low wages.
they have both organized groups in order to avoid getting an education.
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4. According to Freakonomics, a big part of a real estate agent’s job is:
a)
b)
c)
d)
persuading the homeowner to sell for less than the house is worth.
selling a house for the most money possible.
persuading buyers and sellers to get the highest price possible as quickly as they can.
being sensitive to the needs of his or her clients.
5. A real estate agent is willing to take a longer period of time to sell his/her own house than
he/she would take to sell a client’s house because the:
a)
b)
c)
d)
marginal costs of waiting longer are less.
marginal benefits of waiting longer are greater.
total costs of waiting longer are less.
net benefits of waiting longer are zero.
6. Considering the relationship between the terminology used by real estate agents and the type
of information about the value of a house that is actually being conveyed, which of the
following terms would most likely be signaling a potential buyer to bid low?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Stainless steel.
Quaint styling.
Hardwood floors.
Solid oak.
7. The situation in which one person discriminates against another simply because he prefers
not to interact with that type of person is referred to as:
a)
b)
c)
d)
taste-based discrimination.
quasi-racial discrimination.
information-based discrimination.
ignorance-based discrimination.
8. As the analysis of voting behavior of contestants on The Weakest Link demonstrates,
discrimination by one party against another, either deliberately or subconsciously,
a)
b)
c)
d)
can leave the discriminator worse off.
can leave the discriminatee worse off.
can leave society worse off.
all of the above.
9. The most certain way to fail on an Internet dating site is by:
a)
b)
c)
d)
describing your self truthfully.
being a low-income, poorly educated, unemployed, bald man.
not posting a picture of your self.
implying through your description that you are uneducated.
10. Which of the following is the most reasonable summary of the information
in this chapter?
a) Innovations such as the Internet have, to a large degree, eliminated significant information
asymmetries.
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b) Anyone who possesses asymmetrical information is bound to exploit that information in
immoral ways.
c) Information asymmetries can convey considerable advantages to those who with
information. The incentive to further distort such information to one’s advantage is also often
quite compelling.
d) Information relevant to a transaction is only valuable if one party to the transaction has it and
the other party does not.
Quiz 9 Chapter 5: “What Makes a Perfect Parent?”
1. Which of the following would be considered part of the conventional wisdom regarding proper
parenting that has withstood the test of time?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Babies should always sleep on their backs.
Babies should sleep with parents.
Bottle feeding is preferred to breast feeding.
None of the above. Considering the range of opinions on virtually every aspect of parenting,
there is no commonly agreed upon conventional wisdom.
2. According to Levitt and Dubner, what is the enemy of rational argument?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Emotion.
Thought.
Argument.
Analysis.
3. Which emotion is more potent than the rest when someone is attempting to sway public
opinion?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Fear.
Love.
Joy.
Anger.
4. According to Levitt and Dubner, in which of the following ways is a child in the United States
most likely to die?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Drowning.
Being shot by a gun.
Dog attack.
Struck by lightning.
5. According to the data, which activity is more risky: driving or flying?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Driving.
Flying.
The per hour death rates are equal, i.e., they are equally risky.
There are no per hour death rate statistics for either activity.
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6. How can we reconcile Levitt and Dubner’s assertion that “bad” parenting matters a great deal,
while “good” parenting does not?
a) The marginal cost of “bad” parenting is greater than the marginal cost of “good” parenting.
b) It is possible that “bad” parenting and “good” parenting are related to some other variable
which in fact influences the way a child turns out.
c) The total benefits of “good” parenting are less than the total benefits of “bad” parenting.
d) We can’t. They can’t have it both ways.
7. In the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, what did
the Supreme Court rule?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Schools did not need to be desegregated.
Schools needed to be desegregated.
The decision whether to desegregate schools should be left to each individual state.
None of the above.
8. According to academic studies, which of the following accounts most for the income gap
between black and white adults?
a)
b)
c)
d)
The black-white education gap that occurs in the first few years of schooling.
Continuing discrimination against blacks in the labor force.
The problem of reverse discrimination.
The fact that blacks are less likely than whites to complete a four-year college degree.
9. Based on analysis of the data collected in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS),
which of the following statements is correct?
a) White children in a bad school perform just as poorly as black students attending the same
school.
b) Black students in good schools do as well as their white counterparts in the same school.
c) Blacks in good schools outperform whites in bad schools.
d) All of the above.
10. Based on the ECLS data, which of the following four factors is positively correlated with
children’s test scores?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Attending Head Start.
Being adopted.
Speaking English in the home.
The child’s parents read to him nearly every day.
Quiz 10 Chapter 6: “Perfect Parenting, Part II; or:
Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet”
1. The example in this chapter about Winner Lane and Loser Lane:
a) is used to illustrate the bizarre trend of renaming in the court system.
b) shows that Winner’s and Loser’s chances for success were not affected by their names.
c) supports the “conventional wisdom” belief about the effect a child’s name has on his/her
success in life.
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d) is used to illustrate how a name can strongly affect how a child views himself/herself.
2. Which of the following statements is correct?
a) The name a parent gives a child has a significant effect on the child’s success in later life.
b) The more unique a child’s name is, the more likely he/she is to be successful in later life.
c) A child’s name tends to reflect the parent’s life, and the latter is the more important
determinant of a child’s success in later life.
d) There is no identifiable relationship between a child’s name and his/her prospects for
success in later life.
3. Roland Fryer’s analysis of the California names data strongly suggests that:
a) distinctive black culture is a cause of the economic disparity between whites and blacks.
b) distinctive black culture is a reflection of the economic disparity between whites and blacks.
c) distinctive black culture has substantially reduced the economic disparity between whites
and blacks.
d) distinctive black culture has substantially increased the economic disparity between whites
and blacks.
4. The significant distinction between “black” names and “white” names:
a)
b)
c)
d)
is a relatively recent phenomenon.
is stronger among boys names than girls names.
is declining as segregation declines.
is due to each races’ “distaste” for the other.
5. On average, a person with a distinctively “black” name:
a) will have a worse life outcome than a person with a distinctively “white” name.
b) will enjoy greater economic success when compared to a distinctively “white” named
individual.
c) will be doomed to failure because of his/her name.
d) will have the same amount of opportunities to succeed as does anyone else.
6. Assuming Jake Williams and DeShawn Williams are born in the same neighborhood and into
the same familial and economic circumstances, it is likely that:
a) Jake and DeShawn will live extremely different lives based solely on their different names.
b) Jake and DeShawn will have similar life outcomes.
c) because of their different “race-related” names Jake and DeShawn will end up living in
different neighborhoods when they grow up.
d) we have no idea what will happen.
7. Which of the following girls is most likely to be successful when they grow up?
a)
b)
c)
d)
A white girl named Molly whose mother was single and poorly educated.
A black girl named Ebony whose mother was highly educated and successful.
A white girl named Misty whose mother had a high school education.
A black girl named Claire whose mother had a high school education.
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8. According to the data, lower-income parents do most of their name shopping among:
a)
b)
c)
d)
celebrities.
high-profile professions (e.g., doctor, lawyer).
popular brand names.
higher-income families.
9. The girl’s name Annika is currently popular among higher-income, better-educated parents.
Based on recent trends described in the text, which of the following is the most likely
description of what will happen to the use of this name over time.
a) It will remain popular among higher-income parents, but eventually slip into obscurity.
b) Lower-income parents will increasingly choose it for their baby girls, but it will then slip into
obscurity.
c) Lower-income parents will increasingly choose it for their baby girls, and it remain popular
among that group for several decades.
d) It will quickly slip into obscurity. What parent in his/her right mind would name his/her
daughter Annika?
10. Levitt and Dubner are of the opinion that Shithead, Orangejello, and Lemonjello:
a)
b)
c)
d)
will be popular names in the future.
are dumb names.
will not catch on as popular names.
have mean parents.