Exam 19: Public Goods and the Tragedy of the Commons

The two largest sources of government spending are:

An issue that generates substantial benefits to a small group of individuals while imposing a small cost on many others is called a:

Explain why economists say that voters are rationally ignorant about politics.

If the median voter theory holds in the first election, come reelection time, the candidates will reposition themselves closer to the median voter.

Rational ignorance:

Government ownership of the press and of radio:

Reference: Ref 19-2 (Figure: Smoking Ban Policy Spectrum) Refer to the figure. If A, B, and C are all candidates in the election, and a smoking ban is the only issue being debated, based on the median voter theorem which candidate will win the election?

Why are voters generally considered myopic?

Why do people tend to be rationally ignorant about presidential candidates?

Explain why there may be a bi-causal (causation in both directions) relationship between democracy and wealth.

Policy A adversely affects 50 million people at a cost of $1 per person. But Policy A also benefits 1,000 people at $30,000 per person. Which of the following statements is true?

Rational ignorance refers to the:

Which of the following variables is the least helpful in predicting presidential elections?

When a policy is specialized in its impact, difficult to understand, and affects a small part of the country, it is more likely that:

Just before the 1972 election, ________ sent a letter to 24 million Social Security recipients informing them of increased payment benefits.

According to Amartya Sen, the most powerful way to reduce the likelihood of famine is:

If voters are myopic, which of the following would we expect to see?

________ argues that ________.

Which of the following statements is NOT true about the sugar quota imposed by the U.S. government?

Stalin: