Deck 10: The Environment and Development  

Question 1

Why might it be in the direct economic interest of the United States to finance rain forest conservation programs in the Amazon?

Answer 1

Answers may include global warming effects, which may lower the productivity of the American Midwest, and loss of biodiversity for future medicines.

Question 2

What are the main environmental challenges facing the Philippines? What are the key ingredients of PA 21, the government plan to deal with these?

Answer 2

Detailed in the case study at the end of the chapter.

Question 3

Debt-for-nature swaps are most generally

A)beneficial only to the developing country.
B)beneficial only to the developed country.
C)beneficial only to the bank which can write off the debt.
D) beneficial to all countries.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Discuss the relationship between poverty, growth, and the environment.

Question 5

What is the relationship between debt, falling commodity prices and rainforest degradation?

Question 6

Describe the basic issues involved in setting up a system of national accounts that includes the value of environmental capital and its loss.

Question 7

Explain what developed countries can do to respond constructively to the environmental damage being done in developing countries.

Question 8

Describe the costs of water pollution.

Question 9

Describe the costs of deforestation.

Question 10

Recurrent flooding in Bangladesh is causing the land area of the country to shrink. In what ways might environmental mismanagement play a role in explaining this phenomenon?

Question 11

A major cause of environmental degradation in developing countries is

A)debt-for-nature swaps.
B)poverty.
C)a lack of public transportation.
D) land reform.

Question 12

The free rider problem is a situation in which

A)effluents such as CFCs combine with ozone and decrease concentrations of that protective chemical.
B)one agent secures benefits that others pay for.
C)there are excessive subsidies given to polluting buses or other forms of mass transit.
D) perfect property rights exist.

Question 13

In what way is better protection of the environment a possible result of successful development?

Question 14

Which of the following conditions is violated if there is a free rider problem?

A)Universality
B)Exclusivity
C)Transferability
D) Enforceability

Question 15

Which of the following environmental problems are largely caused by persistent poverty?

A)Deforestation
B)Soil erosion
C)Groundwater contamination
D) All of the above

Question 16

The cost of rainforest preservation can be lowered for developing countries by

A)the development of alternative rainforest products.
B)research on agriculture in rainforest soils.
C)encouraging rainforest settlement of the poor.
D) subsidies for activities like cattle raising.

Question 17

The portion of a country's overall assets that is directly related to the environment, such as forests and soil quality, is known as

A)environmental capital.
B)debt-for-nature swaps.
C)protected areas.
D) common property assets.

Question 18

A resource that is publicly owned and allocated under a system of unrestricted access is known as

A)a socialist resource.
B)a collective resource.
C)a common property resource.
D) a transferable resource.

Question 19

Describe the effect of the loss of biodiversity on productivity and health.

Question 20

Provide a short definition of sustainable development.

Question 21

International resources shared by all countries, such as oceans and air, are known as

A)global commons.
B)free rider problems.
C)nonrenewable resources.
D) cooperative resources.

Question 22

The annual income that can be consumed without diminishing the total capital assets of a nation is

A)purchasing power parity income.
B)sustainable national income.
C)environmental capital stock.
D) per capita income.

Question 23

Which of the following conditions does not characterize perfect property rights markets?

A)Universality
B)Exclusivity
C)Sustainability
D) Enforceability

Question 24

In what way do developing countries make the largest contribution to the global concentrations of greenhouse gases?

A)Vehicle emissions
B)Deforestation
C)Mining
D) Irrigation

Question 25

An example of a biomass fuel is

A)coal.
B)nuclear fuel.
C)manure.
D) oil.