Term
| What were the primary reasons for the US revolution? What were the colonists most angry about? |
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Definition
| taxation without representation in Parliament, Stamp Act; No taxation without representation |
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Term
| Why do the goals of the US president often conflict with those of individual Congressmen? |
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Definition
The president has to make decisions that take into account the broad interest of the US
congress men only have to please a small contingent |
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Term
| According to the US Constitution, which powers are reserved for the individual state governments? |
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Definition
"Reserved powers" those powers not granted to the national gov. by the Constitution are reserved for the states.
Most primary and secondary education in the United States is funded and implemented at the state and local levels.
Housing- Both the states and Federal Government.
Crime Prevention - States and localities operate most of the government machinery for controlling domestic crime. The vast majority of police and court personnel, judges, and prosecutors are city, county or state employees.
The national government steps into domestic crime control when criminals break federal laws concerning bank robbery, tax evasion, misdeeds in financial markets,drug trafficking, support for terrorism, and criminal organizations and activities that routinely cross state boundaries.
Environment Protection - Both state and federal. |
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Term
| What powers does the Supreme Court possess to enforce its rulings |
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Definition
NONE- all the Supreme Court has power to is judicial review: the power to determine if a law or act of gov. is conforms to the Constitution
& the chief justice has the power to preside over impeachment trials in the Senate |
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Term
Imperfect Information
Define & Explain; How does it cause market failures? |
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Definition
-If information on a good, service, or investment is bad or missing, then it clouds the ability of economic actors to make good decisions.
-drives up the costs and risks of economic activity. Where one party to a transaction has substantially more information than the other, you can get a “market for lemons” result.
-information problems drive up the costs of economic activities thus shrink markets.
-gov requires private actors to provide more info, and/or for gov also provides info
-transactions go awry
principal-agent problem: the principal assumes that the agent will pursue the principal's interest; but people usually act out of self interest
Examples:
Moral hazard: a person with insurance against automobile theft may be less cautious about locking their car, because the negative consequences of vehicle theft are now (partially) the responsibility of the insurance company. Insurers have less information about the risks taken by their clients, and in fact, insurance may alter a person's behavior
Health insurance: In the Health Insurance Market, buyers know more information about their own health problems than do potential insurance providers. With this better information, buyers have an incentive to conceal their health problems in attempt to get a lower insurance premium.
labor market: Workers are knowledgeable about their skills, industriousness, and productivity. Employers, in contrast, have limited information about the quality of prospective workers |
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Term
Negative Externalities
Define & Explain; How does it cause market failures? |
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Definition
-the cost of an economic activity is transferred to actors not involved involved in the performance of the econ activity
-since producer doesnt bear all cost, they will perform more of this activity more than an efficient market would dictate
-gov. role is to regulate activity or fine the producer
-causes market failure b/c someone other than the producer is bearing the cost (usually consumer)
Example:
steel mill produces smog that the consumer/environment bears; they continue to produce at the cost of everyone's health |
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Term
Adverse Selection
Define & Explain; How does it cause market failures? |
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Definition
-"bad" results occur b/c buyers and sellers have asymmetric information; bad products are more likely to be chosen
-high risk consumers cause the cost of a product/service to go up, while low risk consumers must bear part of the cost & become less likely to buy that particular good or service
Example:
-Adverse selection spiraling
-nonsmokers are more likely to live longer. If insurers do not vary prices for life insurance according to smoking status, life insurance will be better for smokers than nonsmokers. Smokers would be more likely to buy insurance. Increased cost of having large amts of smokers on a company's insurance program is born by the nonsmokers causing the nonsmokers to likely drop the insurance making it even more expensive for everyone |
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Term
| What is the biggest factor accounting for how many people decide to vote? |
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Definition
| Political party alignment |
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Term
| Why do politicians pay a disproportionate amount of attention to members of the middle and upper classes? |
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Definition
| -the majority of voters are from these socioeconomic classes |
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Term
| Why are health care cost rising so quickly in the US? |
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Definition
The health care trilemma: 3 options, choose 2
1. high quality
2. low cost
3. broad coverage
Primary Drivers of Health Care Cost:
1. technology: the newest innovations in health care cost a lot of money! better treatment= more money
2. rise in chronic diseases: AIDS, cancer, and diabetes have life long treatment plans that are expensive, when in the past, they were deadly diagnosis
3. aging population: we have to pay for the failing health of the baby boomers as they reach retirement age
4. administrative cost: there are more people in the "totem pole" of health care with more technology |
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Term
| Why do third parties tend to fail in US elections? |
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Definition
Duverger's Law: first-past-the-post system
a candidate is either right or left of the neutral line, there are only two solutions to every "problem"
if a third party candidate takes a position on either side, they cause a split in the vote with the voters that identify with that side
if they choose to be "neutral" they only attract non-partisan or centrist votes |
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Term
| Investors from which country are the top holders of US debt? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which branch of government has the most influence over the federal budget |
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Definition
| the legislative branch, congress (Congressional Budget Act of 1974) |
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Term
| According to specific factors theory, which economic actors probably loses the most from US free trade with a foreign country? |
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Definition
| Owners of relatively non-mobile or specific factors will lose from trade if they are stuck in an industry which suffers from trade |
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Term
| How are international treaties passed in the US? Who has the power over their design, passage, & implementation? |
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Definition
Executive branch (president, diplomats, ambassadors) negotiate and formalize the treaties
Senate officially approves treaties (although this is not 100% clear in the constitution)
The president can
-veto congressional bills
-invoke executive orders
-declare unofficial treaties (executive agreements)
The Constitution provides that the president "shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur". |
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Term
| In which policy areas is the President usually more powerful than congress? |
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Definition
Most control:
President: foreign policy
Congress: fiscal and regulatory policy |
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Term
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Definition
- raise the cost of shipping a good to a country
- producers & govt. win, consumers lose |
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Term
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Definition
- wealth is transferred from domestic consumers/taxpayers to domestic produces and foreign consumers
- payment to a firm or individual that ships goods abroad
- consumers & govt. loses, producers gain |
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Term
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Definition
-direct restrictions on the quantity of a good that can be imported
-always rise domestic prices, restricted supply=prices rise
-like a tariff except the govt. gets no $ from it either
-producers and foreign govts. win, consumers and govt. lose |
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Term
| Voluntary Export Restrains |
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Definition
- quota on exports imposed by the exporter's govt.
-always more costly to the importing country than a tariff
-the revenue goes to the foreign government rather than the importing government |
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Term
| Local Content Requirement |
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Definition
- govt. requires that some specified fraction of a foreign good be produced domestically
-consumers lose, producers of local content win |
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Term
| What policy should Americans pursue in order to reduce their trade deficit? |
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Definition
| Policies that increase trade tariffs on foreign goods and promote exporting goods |
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Term
| How many members of the Tea Party are currently in the US Congress? |
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Definition
| 88 or 66 no one knowss..... |
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Term
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Definition
"good guys" vs "bad guys"
-state should help the good and punish the bad
-example: "sin" taxes
-implications: each situation has to be judged on good vs evil by the gov. using a subjective and arbitrary moral standard |
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Term
| Realist Model of the state |
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Definition
elites seek more power, the state is dominated by a few
example: hitler
implications: reduce and fight govt, requires more political/economical competition |
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Term
| Marxist Model of the state |
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Definition
society is divided into the wealthy and the poor and both seek to exploit the other while the state redistributes the wealth
-implications: the poor use the govt to reduce the inequality; the rich use the govt to protect their property |
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Term
| Public Interest Model of the state |
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Definition
the state acts "in the public interest" to benefit society as a whole
-implications: we should all support and obey the state |
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Term
| Interest Group Model of the state |
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Definition
state made of different interests which use the govt to compete over resources and redistribution of wealth
implications: reduce and fight govt |
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Term
| What is the offical status of Taiwan according to Beijing? Taipei? Washington DC? |
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Definition
US: No Taiwan just the PRC
Beijing: No Taiwan just the PRC
Taipei: Taiwan is a separate entity governmentally |
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Term
| What are the primary goals of US foreign policy? |
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Definition
Diplomacy: president
Defense Policy: congress and president
Trade policy: congress and president
Foreign Aid: congress |
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Term
| Who controls the US military? |
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Definition
The president is commander and chief of the armed forces and has final responsibility for the use of military force
Congress has to declare war on another country |
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Term
| What kinds of people/goods were banned in the first Georgia colony? |
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Definition
No soldiers, sailers, farmers, or skilled labor
No catholics, lawyers, or rum
No slave labor |
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Term
| How and why did the county-unit system contribute to the Democrate dominance of GA? |
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Definition
-the county-unit system: each county had a fixed # of votes to collectively cast
-majority of the votes gives candidate the county's vote
-the urban areas got considerable more votes than the rural counties
-only urban areas voted Democrate and even then the whole country didnt agree
-32% of the population of Georgia was voting democratic, yet they controlled 59% of the influence |
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Term
| What finally got rid of GA's county-unit system of voting? |
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Definition
Gray vs. Sanders decision by the Supreme Court
'one man-one vote' principle |
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Term
| Hierarchies v. Markets v. Networks |
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Definition
hierarchies: this is "formal" aka adverts, employment agencies, college placement
-organizations of asymmetrical power, centralized command and control (best used when you need to reduce transaction costs)
-difficult to dismember
markets: this is a direct application;
- informed, rational individuals involved in free exchange of goods, service & capital
-dont use if you need to reduce the cost of finding, arranging, and settling transactions
-prone to incomplete information
-best for "techies"
networks: this is personal contacts
-social structure made up of nodes that are linked by one or more specific types or relationships
-best if used when information cannot be codified well
-statically the best paying and most satisfying results |
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Term
| How does the use of networks vary across cultural groups? |
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Definition
| The use of networks appears to have little to do with one's cultural, religious, ethic, or educational background |
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Term
| In networks for transmitting information for market exchanges, what types of networks, frequency of contact, and degree of separation work best? |
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Definition
| work contacts, weakly tied, rarely seen contacts, 1 degree of separation |
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