Econ343 Dec 14 ,2016
Name…………………………………
BU number………………………..
Multiple Choice Section (90 marks)
1. Assuming workers and jobs are identical, if information is perfect and job search and migration
are costless, then
A. labor may or may not flow among employers.
B. labor will flow among employers until all wages are equal.
C. labor will flow among employers until all economic profits are zero, but wages may be unequal.
D. all firms will hire the same number of workers in equilibrium and pay them all the same wage.
2. Which of the following would tend to increase labor supply to a particular job?
A. The employer cuts back the scope and coverage of the medical plan.
B. Vesting in the firm’s pension plan is pushed back from 1 year to 5 years.
C. The crime rate rises in the city where the job is located.
D. The perceived status of the job improves.
3. The concept of noncompeting groups suggests that workers in different groups
A. are legally prevented from competing with one another.
B. are imperfect substitutes for one another.
C. have comparable characteristics but work for firms in different industries.
D. have identical stocks of human capital but differing preferences for nonwage job characteristics.
4. If an economics professor moves from the University of California at Berkeley to the University
of Texas at Austin, that is an example of
A. job change/no change in residence.
B. occupational change/no change in residence.
C. geographic change/no change in occupation.
D. geographic change/change in occupation.
5. Approximately what percentage of U.S. workers change occupation each year?
A. less than 5%
B. 10%
C. 15%
D. more than 20%
, 6. Refer to the following diagram.
Which one of the following best explains the differences in the isoprofit curves of the two firms?
A. X has lower profits than Y because X is paying higher wages.
B. X has higher profits than Y because X’s high wages attract workers who are less relaxed and thereby
less likely to shirk on the job.
C. X pays a higher cost than Y for providing additional informality.
D. Y pays a higher cost than X for providing additional informality.
7. All else equal, a worker is less likely to move
A. if the worker has moved before.
B. the greater the amount of specific training the worker has.
C. the greater the worker?s educational attainment.
D. the shorter the distance moved.
8. Older workers are less likely to migrate, because older workers
A. have typically accumulated more possessions, raising the direct cost of moving.
B. are more likely to have to give up seniority and pension benefits.
C. are more likely to have high psychic costs of moving.
D. All of the other choices are correct.
9. Suppose there is an increase in immigration rates of unskilled, illegal aliens. Which of the
following is not likely to result?
A. Unskilled workers would lose if they are gross substitutes with illegal immigrants.
B. Skilled workers would benefit if they are gross complements with unskilled workers.
C. The wages of unskilled workers would fall in those markets not protected by minimum wages.
D. For each immigrant who receives a job, there would be one less job available for a native worker.