Deck 10: General Equilibrium and Welfare

Question 1

In free exchange among two individuals the position on the contract curve finally arrived at will,among other things,depend on:
I)The bargaining strength of each individual.
II)The initial endowments of the individuals.
III)The individuals' preferences.
Which of these correctly completes the statement?

A) II and III, but not I.
B) Only II.
C) I and III, but not II.
D) I, II, and III.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Markets can fail to achieve efficiency when

A) there are prices consumers do not think are fair.
B) there are wages workers do not think are fair.
C) trade puts people out of work.
D) there are buyers or sellers without adequate information about the quality of goods.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The rate of product transformation refers to

A) how a consumer can trade one good for another while still maximizing his or her utility.
B) how a firm can substitute one input for another and still maintain the same production level.
C) how production of one good can be substituted for another while still using a fixed supply of inputs efficiently.
D) how quickly a firm can produce a final good while starting with only natural resources.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Suppose goods X and Y are produced along a production possibilities frontier 4X² + Y² = 500 and they are perfect substitutes such that U = X + Y.The slope of the production possibilities frontier is .How much Y should be produced?

A) 0
B) 5
C) 10
D) 20

Question 5

An efficient allocation of productive inputs requires that

A) each output has the same rate of technical substitution among inputs used.
B) each output has the same marginal rate of substitution for consumers.
C) each pair of outputs has the same rate of product transformation.
D) each individual has the same marginal rate of substitution between outputs.

Question 6

Markets can fail to achieve efficiency when

A) there are prices consumers do not think are fair.
B) there are wages workers do not think are fair.
C) trade puts people out of work.
D) there are public goods.

Question 7

Each of the following factors might interfere with the efficiency of perfect competition except:

A) increasing returns to scale.
B) imperfect price information.
C) externalities.
D) diminishing returns to scale.

Question 8

Markets can fail to achieve efficiency when

A) there are prices consumers do not think are fair.
B) there are wages workers do not think are fair.
C) trade puts people out of work.
D) there are markets with imperfect competition.

Question 9

Suppose the Economics Department has a graduation party for its students but as a final test they must show they have learned something about trade.The men are given food when they walk in and the women are given drink.Suppose they have identical preferences where food and drink provide utility .The contract curve in the Edgeworth box using a representative man and woman would be

A) a right angle connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
B) a curve (not necessarily a line) connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
C) a line connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
D) a right angle connecting the upper left corner with the lower right corner.

Question 10

The slope of the production possibility frontier shows

A) the marginal rate of substitution between the two goods.
B) the relative marginal costs of the two goods.
C) the efficient combination of outputs possible using fixed amounts of input.
D) the relative marginal productivities of the two goods.

Question 11

Under a perfectly competitive price system

A) an equitable allocation of the available resources will always result.
B) there is no opportunity for individuals to trade amongst themselves.
C) there is no reason to expect that voluntary trading will result in an equitable allocation of the available resources.
D) None of the above will result.

Question 12

Consider three ways of allocating two goods in a two-person exchange economy.
I)Both individuals take prices as given and equilibrium prices are established by an impartial auctioneer.
II)One individual can act as a perfect price discriminator and force the other individual to pay a different price for each unit of a good that is traded.
III)One individual is a monopolist and can charge the other individual a single,utility-maximizing price.
Which of these situations is efficient?

A) None of them.
B) Only I.
C) I and II, but not III.
D) I and III, but not II.

Question 13

Suppose goods X and Y are produced along a production possibilities frontier 4X² + Y² = 500 and they are perfect substitutes such that U = X + Y.The slope of the production possibilities frontier is .What is the MRS at the optimal point?

A) 0
B) -1
C) -4
D) -5

Question 14

Suppose the Economics Department has a graduation party for its students but as a final test they must show they have learned something about trade.The men are given food when they walk in and the women are given drink.Suppose they have very different preferences where food and drink provide utility.For men .For women U=min(F,D)The contract curve in the Edgeworth box using a representative man and woman would be

A) a right angle connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
B) a curve (not necessarily a line) connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
C) a line connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
D) a right angle connecting the upper left corner with the lower right corner.

Question 15

Consider a two-good production economy in which both goods are produced with fixed proportions production functions.Then,some efficient allocations will exhibit unemployment of some factor providing

A) the firms use the inputs in different proportions.
B) the firms exhibit diminishing returns to scale.
C) the firms exhibit increasing returns to scale.
D) production can never be efficient if there are unemployed inputs.

Question 16

Suppose two goods (X and Y )are being produced efficiently and that the production of X is always more labor intensive than the production of Y.Production depends only on two factors (capital and labor); these may be smoothly substituted for each other.The total quantities of these inputs are fixed.An increase in the production of X and a decrease in the production of Y will

A) increase the capital-labor ratio in each firm.
B) decrease the capital-labor ratio in each firm.
C) leave the capital-labor ratio for each firm unchanged.
D) increase the capital-labor ratio in Y production and decrease the capital -labor ratio in X production.

Question 17

Suppose the Economics Department has a graduation party for its students but as a final test they must show they have learned something about trade.The men are given food when they walk in and the women are given drink.Suppose they have identical preferences where food and drink provide utility .The exchange would be such that

A) both would be guaranteed to be better off than when they entered.
B) both would be guaranteed to be at least as well off as when they entered.
C) the men would end up with more.
D) the women would end up with more.

Question 18

Suppose goods X and Y are produced along a production possibilities frontier 4X² + Y² = 500 and they are perfect substitutes such that U = X + Y.The slope of the production possibilities frontier is .How much X should be produced?

A) 0
B) 5
C) 10
D) 20

Question 19

In an economy consisting of only two goods,corn and cloth,the amount of extra cloth that can be produced efficiently if corn output is reduced by one unit is equal to

A) the rate of technical substitution for corn divided by the rate of technical substitution for cloth.
B) the rate of technical substitution for cloth divided by the rate of technical substitution for corn.
C) the marginal cost of producing cloth divided by the marginal cost of producing corn.
D) the marginal cost of producing corn divided by the marginal cost of producing cloth.

Question 20

The reason externalities distort the allocation of resources is that

A) too few goods are usually produced.
B) firms often go out of business because of the externality.
C) a firm's private costs do not reflect the social cost of production.
D) regulating externalities uses scarce resources.

Question 21

Suppose country A has a production possibilities frontier such that and country B has a production possibilities frontier such that and consumers in both countries view x and y as perfect substitutes.Country B will produce

A) only x (= ) and trade for y.
B) only y (= ) and trade for x.
C) both x (= 40) and y (= 20) and trade x to get y.
D) both x (= 40) and y (= 20) and trade y to get x.

Question 22

Suppose a man and a woman are in love and care for the other's happiness as well as their own consumption. Suppose they have 100 units of consumption to distribute,they will maximize the joint happiness ( )where

A) ;
B) ;
C) ;
D) ;

Question 23

Suppose a man and a woman are in love and care for the other's happiness as well as their own consumption.Suppose the man is more selfish than the woman They will maximize the joint happiness ( )where

A) ;
B) ;
C) 50 < < 100; 0 < < 50
D) 50 < < 100; 0 < < 50

Question 24

Suppose goods X and Y are produced along a production possibilities frontier X² + 4Y² = 500 and they are perfect substitutes such that U = X + Y.The slope of the production possibilities frontier is .What is the MRTS at the optimal point?

A) 0
B) -1
C) -4
D) -5

Question 25

Suppose a man and a woman are in love and care for the other's happiness as well as their own consumption.Suppose the woman is more selfish than the woman They will maximize the joint happiness ( )where

A) ;
B) ;
C) 50 < < 100; 0 < < 50
D) 50 < < 100; 0 < < 50

Question 26

Suppose two coffee snobs who must have their coffee and cream in exact proportions (each cup is 10 coffee per 1 unit cream)are invited to a weekend long event (during which they can easily consume 8 cups of coffee).Suppose Snob A is given 8 units of cream and Snob B is given 80 units of coffee.The contract curve in the Edgeworth box would be

A) a right angle connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
B) a curve (not a line) connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
C) a line connecting the lower left corner with the upper right corner.
D) a right angle connecting the upper left corner with the lower right corner.

Question 27

Suppose country A has a production possibilities frontier such that and country B has a production possibilities frontier such that and consumers in each country view x and y as perfect substitutes.Country B will produce

A) only x (= ) and trade for y.
B) only y (= ) and trade for x.
C) both x (= 20) and y (= 5) and trade x to get y.
D) both x (= 20) and y (= 5) and trade y to get x.

Question 28

Suppose goods X and Y are produced along a production possibilities frontier X² + 4Y² = 500 and they are perfect substitutes such that U = X + Y.The slope of the production possibilities frontier is .How much Y should be produced?

A) 0
B) 5
C) 10
D) 20

Question 29

Suppose two coffee snobs who must have their coffee and cream in exact proportions (each cup is 10 coffee per 1 unit cream)are invited to a weekend long event (during which they can easily consume 8 cups of coffee).Suppose Snob A is given 8 units of cream and Snob B is given 80 units of coffee.The post trading result (one in which any trade that makes both parties better off than their initial allocation)will guarantee each person

A) nothing
B) at least 1 cup of properly made coffee.
C) at least 2 cups of properly made coffee.
D) exactly 4 cups of properly made coffee.

Question 30

Suppose goods X and Y are produced along a production possibilities frontier X² + 4Y² = 500 and they are perfect substitutes such that U = X + Y.The slope of the production possibilities frontier is .What is the MRS at the optimal point?

A) 0
B) -1
C) -4
D) -5