Chapter 17 Economic Policy Interests Verified Test Bank - Complete Test Bank | American Gov Stories of a Nation 2e by Scott F. Abernathy. DOCX document preview.
Chapter 17: Economic Policy: Representing Americans’ Financial Interests
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following issues does the American electorate pay closest attention to?
a. American foreign policy decisions
b. American fiscal policy decisions
c. domestic policy choices and decisions
d. individual economic circumstances
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. American voters want an economic climate with ______.
a. low rates of unemployment, rising incomes, stable prices, lower taxes, and effective social welfare programs
b. full employment, stable incomes, decreasing prices, no taxes, and an absence of social welfare programs
c. rising unemployment, equalized incomes, stable prices, moderate taxes, and freely available social welfare programs
d. stable employment, rising incomes, rising prices, fairly distributed taxes, and moderate availability of social welfare programs
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. One of the most important jobs a president, senator, or representative does for his/her constituency is ______.
a. planning for social welfare programs
b. providing for economic opportunities
c. preparing a fair and equitable tax system
d. fairly assessing and collecting tax revenues
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Easy
4. Assuming no increase in the national debt, lowering taxes would most likely have the following immediate result: ______.
a. increasing available fiscal resources for quality of life, employment, and economic development policies
b. redistribution of remaining tax revenues to a variety of available social welfare and domestic policies
c. reducing the amount of money available for programs designed to spur employment and economic activity
d. maintaining employment and economic development programs at the expense of military and defense spending
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
5. If Congress chooses to lower taxes and fund programs with borrowed money, which of the following may result?
a. increasing interest rates
b. decreasing employment
c. lower price levels
d. overall economic stability
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
6. The efforts of government to regulate and support the economy in order to protect and expand citizens’ financial well-being and economic prospects, as well as supporting businesses in the global financial system, is best defined as ______.
a. fiscal policy
b. economic policy
c. domestic policy
d. social welfare policy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
7. The focus of this chapter is the problem of rising ______ in the United States.
a. unemployment
b. interest rates
c. student debt
d. fiscal instability
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
8. In which of the following scenarios is the interest rate on U.S. federal government debt most likely to rise?
a. A new Democratic Congress raises taxes but cuts funding to federal services.
b. A new Democratic Congress raises taxes and increases funding to federal services.
c. A new Republican Congress lowers taxes and cuts funding to federal services.
d. A new Republican Congress lowers taxes and increases funding to federal services.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Hard
9. A key group in the rather long list of the 99% of Americans who felt they had been left behind in the wake of the financial bailout of 2008 and who were active in the Occupy Wall Street movement was ______.
a. military veterans
b. college students
c. upper-class workers
d. social welfare recipients
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Problem of Student Debt Threatens the Financial Health of Student Borrowers and the National Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
10. A policy that causes student loans to remain over a student’s head for long periods of time is that educational loans ______.
a. cannot be discharged through bankruptcy
b. grow at high levels of interest and fines
c. are aggressively pursued by collection agencies
d. have unusually high default rates
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Constitution and the Discharge of Student Loan Debt
Difficulty Level: Medium
11. According to the president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, student loans will ______.
a. lead to a well-qualified and highly skilled job market
b. be a drag on the economy for the foreseeable future
c. result in as many defaulted loans, as was seen in 2008
d. force unemployment to fall below the “moderate” 2% level
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Student Loans May Threaten the Health of the National Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
12. The rising level of student loan debt in America is a cause of concern for economic policy as a whole because ______.
a. students aren’t always immediately prepared to pay off their loans right out of college
b. when a significant number of students are forced to use a substantially large proportion of their income to pay for high levels of student loans, they are unable to contribute to the economy in other ways
c. states must reallocate financial resources to offset higher tuition costs, resulting in lower revenues
d. more students are forced to stay in college for a longer period in order to avoid having to repay their loans
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Student Loans May Threaten the Health of the National Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
13. In May 2015, Robert Hiltonsmith focused his college tuition research on ______.
a. state governmental support for state universities
b. administrators who built new facilities
c. professors who demanded higher salaries
d. students who called for better programs
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Practicing Political Science: Using Data to Affect Public Policy: A Different Perspective on the Causes of the Rise of College Tuition
Difficulty Level: Medium
14. During the time of the “student debt bubble,” state legislatures were ______.
a. mandating new performance requirements of state universities
b. cutting back on financial support for higher education
c. raising tuition to compensate for faculty salary increases
d. undertaking massive state university building and expansion programs
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Practicing Political Science: Using Data to Affect Public Policy: A Different Perspective on the Causes of the Rise of College Tuition
Difficulty Level: Medium
15. A set of economic policy-making tools through which government tries to lower unemployment, support economic activity, and stabilize the economy through policies of taxation and spending is called ______.
a. social policy
b. domestic policy
c. economic policy
d. fiscal policy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Fiscal Policy Guides the Economy through Decisions on Spending and Taxation
Difficulty Level: Medium
16. Before deciding on the details of any single economic policy, a society must first determine the appropriate role of government in ______.
a. spending and taxation
b. budgeting and allocating resources
c. regulating and influencing economic activity
d. allowing for open-market operations
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Medium
17. The author of the foundational publication An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776 was ______.
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. Adam Smith
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. John Locke
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Medium
18. An economic system in which governments intrude as little as possible in the economic transactions between citizens and businesses in both decisions about taxation and spending is known as a ______.
a. laissez-faire economy
b. command-and-control economy
c. mixed economy
d. socialist economy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Medium
19. In the 19th century, the federal government acted in the economy to support broad policy goals such as ______.
a. the provision of market-based financial operations
b. directly influencing the value of federal currency
c. influencing employment through government spending
d. the building of the Transcontinental Railroad
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Medium
20. A type of economic policy in which many economic decisions are left to individuals and businesses but also in which the federal government plays a role in using its power to shape those economic decisions is best described as a ______.
a. laissez-faire economy
b. command-and-control economy
c. mixed economy
d. socialist economy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Medium
21. An economic policy in which a government dictates much of a nation’s economic activity, including levels of production and prices, would best be described as a ______.
a. laissez-faire economy
b. command-and-control economy
c. mixed economy
d. socialist economy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Medium
22. The U.S. economy is best categorized as ______.
a. laissez-faire
b. command and control
c. mixed
d. socialist
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Medium
23. America is what type of economy?
a. laissez-faire
b. command-and-control
c. mixed
d. inverted
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Easy
24. According to Abernathy, before a society can create an economic policy, it must first ______.
a. vote on the scope of government involvement
b. create laws on fiscal policy
c. examine the proper role of government in regulating economic activity
d. have a top-10 GDP in the world
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Easy
25. In guiding American fiscal policy, one of the main roles the federal government plays is to ______.
a. monitor the health of the American economy
b. directly dictate economic levels of production and price
c. conduct direct market-based operations
d. own and control the means of production and capital
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
26. A measure of the total value of goods and services produced by a nation’s economic activity is defined as ______.
a. net national product
b. gross domestic product
c. gross national product
d. net domestic product
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
27. A decline in or stagnation of a nation’s GDP indicates that the country is potentially slipping into an economic ______.
a. depression
b. peak
c. recession
d. trough
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
28. The percentage of the total labor force that is without a job can best be described as the ______.
a. labor force
b. unemployment rate
c. inflation rate
d. consumer price index
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
29. Two years ago, a loaf of bread at the corner supermarket cost $1.50. Last year, it cost $1.75. This year, it costs $2.00. This trend exemplifies an increase in ______.
a. inflation
b. monetary theory
c. the unemployment rate
d. the gross domestic product
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
30. A decline in a nation’s GDP indicated the country may be close to a(n) ______.
a. economic recession
b. economic boom
c. high interest rate
d. hyperinflated market
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
31. What does gross domestic product measure?
a. the number of goods sold
b. the total value of goods and services produced
c. the sum value of imports
d. the sum value of exports
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Easy
32. The CPI measures what?
a. price changes associated with the cost of living
b. the national debt in relation to spending
c. economic growth
d. unemployment
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Easy
33. A(n) ______ indicates a private sector that is cutting back and not hiring or is laying off workers.
a. decrease in the consumer price index
b. increase in gross domestic product
c. increase in the unemployment rate
d. decrease in the inflation rate
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
34. Inflation is best described as a period of ______.
a. declining consumer prices
b. declining gross domestic product
c. rising unemployment.
d. rising consumer prices
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
35. The fluctuation of economic activity around a long-term trend, with periods of expansion and contraction, is best described as the ______.
a. business cycle
b. inflationary index
c. gross domestic product
d. net national product
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Different Theories of Economic Policymaking Vary in How They Explain Economic Cycles
Difficulty Level: Medium
36. What is the primary driver of business cycles according to monetary theory?
a. supply of money
b. credit cards
c. aggregate decisions over saving and spending
d. fluctuations in the supply of money in the economy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Different Theories of Economic Policymaking Vary in How They Explain Economic Cycles
Difficulty Level: Easy
37. Monetarists tend to focus their attention on the ______.
a. consumer price index
b. money supply
c. unemployment rate
d. gross domestic product
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Theory
Difficulty Level: Medium
38. Monetarists believe that a government should ______.
a. increase government spending in times of economic growth
b. decrease government spending in times of economic decline
c. focus on the rate of unemployment in order to stimulate economic activity
d. match the growth of money to the level of growth in economic productivity
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Theory
Difficulty Level: Medium
39. In 1936, a broad theory of business cycles proposed by ______ was applied during the depths of the Great Depression.
a. John Maynard Keynes
b. Milton Friedman
c. Adam Smith
d. John Nash
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Keynesianism
Difficulty Level: Medium
40. Under Keynesianism, business cycles are driven by the aggregation of individual decisions over ______.
a. inflation and pricing
b. employment and investment
c. spending and saving
d. capital and labor
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Keynesianism
Difficulty Level: Medium
41. Under Keynesian economics, in periods of economic contraction, the government should ______.
a. inject more money into the economy
b. withdraw investments from banks and businesses
c. pay off debts to avoid a budgetary deficit
d. make direct loans and grants to citizens
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Keynesianism
Difficulty Level: Medium
42. Supply-side theory is often called ______.
a. capital contraction
b. Obamacare
c. fiscal federalism
d. Reaganomics
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Supply-side Theory
Difficulty Level: Medium
43. Unlike Keynesians, supply-side theorists argue for a stable money supply achieved by focusing on ______.
a. inflationary pressures
b. unemployment rates
c. lowering tax rates
d. attracting consumer savers
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Supply-side Theory
Difficulty Level: Medium
44. Critics of supply-side theory often use the term ______ to describe it.
a. trickle-down economics
b. counter-cyclical economics
c. investment-focused economics
d. limited market regulation
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Supply-side Theory
Difficulty Level: Medium
45. Supply-side economics was first associated with which modern president?
a. Jimmy Carter
b. Ronald Reagan
c. George W. Bush
d. Barack Obama
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Supply-Side Theory
Difficulty Level: Easy
46. The ______ established the basis of modern federal budgeting processes.
a. Congressional Budgeting Control Act of 1974
b. Budget and Accounting Act of 1921
c. Federal Appropriation Act of 2010
d. Antideficiency Act of 1982
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Federal Government Sets the National Budget
Difficulty Level: Medium
47. The executive branch office whose purpose is to assist the president in setting national spending priorities is the ______.
a. Office of Management and Budget
b. Congressional Budget Office
c. General Accountability Office
d. General Service Administration
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Federal Government Sets the National Budget
Difficulty Level: Medium
48. Formally, the president’s budget proposal carries a great deal of ______ weight.
a. constitutional
b. legislative
c. political
d. executive
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Federal Government Sets the National Budget
Difficulty Level: Medium
49. The federal agency tasked with the responsibility to produce independent analysis of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process is the ______.
a. Office of Management and Budget
b. Congressional Budget Office
c. General Accountability Office
d. General Service Administration
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Step 1: The President’s Proposed Budget
Difficulty Level: Medium
50. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974 requires the president’s proposed budget be ______.
a. submitted for approval by all of the members of the president’s cabinet
b. approved by a bipartisan executive budgetary committee
c. reviewed by congressional committees on advice by the Congressional Budget Office
d. prepared only by the Office of Management and Budget prior to submission to Congress
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Step 1: The President’s Proposed Budget
Difficulty Level: Medium
51. The federal government’s fiscal year begins in ______.
a. January
b. April
c. July
d. October
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Step 1: The President’s Proposed Budget
Difficulty Level: Medium
52. Spending for programs and policies at the choice of Congress and the president is best described as ______.
a. mandatory expenditures
b. fiscal policy
c. discretionary spending
d. economic stimulus
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Step 1: The President’s Proposed Budget
Difficulty Level: Medium
53. In response to a president’s budget proposals, Congress is expected to produce a(n) ______.
a. budgetary schedule
b. omnibus bill
c. counterproposal
d. budget resolution
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Step 2: Congress Acts
Difficulty Level: Medium
54. The real action on a president’s proposed budget happens in the House and Senate ______.
a. appropriations committees
b. joint committees
c. conference committees
d. ad hoc committees
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Step 2: Congress Acts
Difficulty Level: Medium
55. Except for a time during the Civil War under President Abraham Lincoln’s administration, individual incomes ______.
a. have always been taxed
b. were not measured
c. were taxed at a flat rate
d. were not taxed until 1913
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The National Checkbook: Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
Difficulty Level: Medium
56. If the federal government takes in more money than it spends, then it runs a budget ______.
a. deficit
b. surplus
c. allocation
d. analysis
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The National Checkbook: Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
Difficulty Level: Medium
57. When the federal government takes in less money than it spends, it runs a budget ______.
a. deficit
b. surplus
c. allocation
d. analysis
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The National Checkbook: Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
Difficulty Level: Medium
58. The sum of all previously incurred annual federal deficits is called the national ______.
a. deficit
b. surplus
c. debt
d. accounting
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The National Checkbook: Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
Difficulty Level: Medium
59. Fearing a backlash against his administration’s continuing bailout of Wall Street in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, President Obama was force to adopt ______.
a. a more populist tone
b. more conservative fiscal policies
c. policies that decreased taxes
d. social welfare programs
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
60. What issue was in the background during President Obama’s first State of the Union Address on January 27, 2010?
a. ISIS on the rise
b. the 2008 financial crisis
c. tising student loan debt
d. a potential border war between Pakistan and India
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Easy
61. To try to head off pending electoral change in 2010, President Obama focused much of his first State of the Union address on ______.
a. federal economic policy
b. fiscal spending
c. budgetary decisions
d. employment programs
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
62. In order to make college more affordable, President Obama believed ______.
a. Congress should increase availability of grants
b. banks should make private loans easier to get
c. federal work–study programs should be expanded
d. colleges and universities should rein in their costs
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
63. In May 2010, President Obama signed a new plan into law that would ______.
a. provide direct loans to college students
b. increase federal subsidies to private student loans
c. make private student loans illegal
d. replace student loans with expanded grant programs
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
64. One tool to counter the problem of student loan defaults and high student loan payments, proposed by President Obama in 2010, was to expand the policy of ______.
a. standards-based payments
b. income-based repayments
c. flat-rate repayment plans
d. standardized payment systems
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
65. Under the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, the law removed ______.
a. private lenders from the practice of servicing and collecting student loan payments
b. universities and colleges from the financial aid process altogether
c. banks and financial institutions from granting private student loans
d. vocational schools and colleges from the federal financial aid system
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
66. Under the current law, the amount of principal and interest forgiven in a student loan is ______.
a. considered a tax-free gift
b. subject to revised payment schedules
c. partially exempt from income taxes
d. fully taxable
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
67. According to Matt Taibbi in an article for Rolling Stone titled “Ripping Off Young America,” the problem with student loans was not the interest charged but the ______.
a. means used to collect defaulted payments
b. rising principal amounts due to tuition inflation
c. high levels of student default
d. services provided in exchange for college tuitions
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
68. Which president or presidential candidate sought to tackle the student debt crisis by attacking the problem at its source and, for example, proposing that state colleges offer free tuition?
a. Hillary Clinton
b. Bernie Sanders
c. Donald Trump
d. Barack Obama
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Remembering
Answer Location: Candidate Sanders Proposed More Radical Solutions
Difficulty Level: Easy
69. Which of the following is considered the central bank of the United States?
a. the Treasury Department
b. the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
c. the Federal Reserve System
d. the First National Bank of the United States
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Policy Is Governed by the Federal Reserve System
Difficulty Level: Medium
70. A set of economic policy tools designed to regulate the amount of money in the economy (in circulation and in deposits) is known as ______.
a. fiscal policy
b. economic policy
c. social welfare policy
d. monetary policy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Policy Is Governed by the Federal Reserve System
Difficulty Level: Medium
71. The rate paid to borrow money is known as the ______.
a. interest rate
b. unemployment rate
c. inflation rate
d. monetary growth rate
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Policy Is Governed by the Federal Reserve System
Difficulty Level: Medium
72. Federal Reserve (“the Fed”) governors are not removable EXCEPT for cause in order to ______.
a. obtain a degree of independence for the Fed from economic influence
b. limit Congressional authority in monetary policy creation
c. allow the president to set his or her monetary policy most effectively
d. give foreign lenders a sense of stability in U.S. monetary policy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Policy Is Governed by the Federal Reserve System
Difficulty Level: Medium
73. When a cascading series of defaults arises, there is not enough money to pay off outstanding debt, resulting in ______.
a. inflation
b. unemployment
c. deflation
d. surplus spending
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Policy Is Governed by The Federal Reserve System
Difficulty Level: Medium
74. One of the Federal Reserve’s stated goals is to maintain “moderate inflation” of around ______.
a. 0.5%
b. 1%
c. 2%
d. 5%
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Conducting Monetary Policy Involves Challenges and Risks
Difficulty Level: Medium
75. A major criticism of the Federal Reserve system is that while governed by a nominated and confirmed board of directors, it is primarily owned by ______.
a. private citizens
b. the U.S. government
c. private stockholders
d. private banks
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Conducting Monetary Policy Involves Challenges and Risks
Difficulty Level: Medium
76. Extremely rapid or out-of-control increases in price levels can best be described as ______.
a. hyperactivism
b. hyperkineticism
c. hyperinflation
d. hyperbolicism
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Conducting Monetary Policy Involves Challenges and Risks
Difficulty Level: Easy
77. One of the worst instances of hyperinflation occurred during the 1920s in ______.
a. the United States and Canada
b. Germany, Austria, and Hungary
c. France, Belgium, and the Netherlands
d. England, Scotland, and Ireland
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Conducting Monetary Policy Involves Challenges and Risks
Difficulty Level: Easy
78. In a speech in November 2002, former chair of the Federal Reserve Board Ben Bernanke suggested the possibility that, in an extreme economic crisis, the Federal Reserve (working in coordination with the U.S. government), could ______.
a. print and loan enough money to finance a massive tax cut and economic stimulus
b. force businesses to increase spending in order to jump-start the economy
c. lower the unemployment rate through offering federal projects and job programs
d. lower the rate of inflation by selling stocks and bonds on the open market
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Practicing Political Science: Interpreting Political Cartoons: “Helicopter Ben” and Extreme Monetary Policy Options
Difficulty Level: Medium
True/False
1. Desirable economic outcomes are easily attained through systematic application of economic and fiscal principles.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
2. Managing the nation’s economy can be complicated by the myriad of competing variables involved.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Fiscal Policy Guides the Economy through Decisions on Spending and Taxation
Difficulty Level: Medium
3. Fiscal policy focuses on policies of taxation and spending.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Fiscal Policy Guides the Economy through Decisions on Spending and Taxation
Difficulty Level: Medium
4. The United States has a pure laissez-faire form of economy.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Medium
5. America’s economy is best described as a laissez-faire type of economy.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The United States Has a Mixed Economic Model
Difficulty Level: Easy
6. The consumer price index can be used to measure inflation and deflation.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Government Monitors the Health of the Economy
Difficulty Level: Medium
7. Fluctuations of economic activity around a long-term trend with periods of expansion and contraction are known as the gross domestic product.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Different Theories of Economic Policymaking Vary in How They Explain Economic Cycles
Difficulty Level: Medium
8. Under the monetarist theory, a policy of “easy money” will inevitably lead to increases in the consumer price index.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Theory
Difficulty Level: Medium
9. Under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974, the president’s proposed budget must be reviewed first by the Office of Management and Budget and next by the Congressional Budget Office before being submitted to Congress.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Step 1: The President’s Proposed Budget
Difficulty Level: Medium
10. In his first State of the Union Address, President Obama made the political decision to focus much of his address on economic problems and policy proposals.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
Short Answer
1. Section 8 of Article I in the Constitution gives Congress the power to establish ______ laws on the subject of bankruptcies across the United States.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Constitution and the Discharge of Student Loan Debt
Difficulty Level: Hard
2. Economic tools that are designed to regulate the amount of money in the economy (in circulation and in deposits) are collectively known as ______.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Monetary Policy
Difficulty Level: Medium
3. Except for a brief period during the Civil War, the federal government did not tax Americans’ individual ______ until 1913.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The National Checkbook: Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
Difficulty Level: Medium
4. If the federal government takes in more money than it spends, it runs a ______.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The National Checkbook: Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
Difficulty Level: Medium
5. When the federal government takes in less money than it spends, it runs a ______.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The National Checkbook: Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
Difficulty Level: Medium
6. By February 2018, the ______ continued to grow to over $20 trillion.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The National Checkbook: Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
Difficulty Level: Medium
7. A type of loan repayment plan in which individual student debtors could have their loan payments reduced and eventually forgiven based upon their incomes and ability to pay off their student debts is known as ______.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms
Difficulty Level: Medium
Essay
1. How do you think policy makers should go about balancing the goals of ensuring equality of access to higher education for all Americans while addressing the competing demands for the nation’s scarce financial resources?
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Student Loans May Threaten the Health of the National Economy
Difficulty Level: Hard
2. Compare and contrast economic policy with fiscal policy and explain their role in shaping national economic outcomes.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.1: Examine the ways in which federal economic policy shapes the financial health of Americans and the ways in which Americans’ financial health impacts the national economy | 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction; Fiscal Policy Guides the Economy through Decisions on Spending and Taxation
Difficulty Level: Medium
3. How do entitlement programs pose a threat to the ability of the federal government to use fiscal policy to strengthen the national economy?
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.2: Understand the United States’ approach to fiscal policy and the tools that are used to measure and implement those policies, including the federal budget.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Federal Government Sets the National Budget
Difficulty Level: Hard
4. Briefly discuss how President Obama, President Trump, and Senator Sanders proposed to deal with the student debt crisis citing specific legislation where applicable. Which plan best balances the need for an educated population with the need to pay for it fairly?
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.3: Explain different approaches to solving the student debt problem and the tools the federal government has at its disposal to try to address the issue.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: President Obama Inherits the Student Debt Problem and Enacts Solutions, but Mostly for the Symptoms; President Trump Proposes Very Different Solutions, but Again, Mostly for the Symptoms; Candidate Sanders Proposed More Radical Solutions
Difficulty Level: Hard
5. Analyze the benefits versus the risks of monetary policy as described in your textbook.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Analyze the development and impact of important governmental policies.
KEY: Learning Objective: 17.4: Summarize the role of the Federal Reserve System in guiding national monetary policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Monetary Policy is Governed by the Federal Reserve System
Difficulty Level: Hard
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Complete Test Bank | American Gov Stories of a Nation 2e
By Scott F. Abernathy