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Provide Your Best Estimate 

  1. What percentage of the American workforce earns the minimum wage or below?
  2. Are we richer than we were in 1900? If so, how much more? If not, how much less?
  3. What was average life expectancy in America in 1800?
  4. What is it today?
  5. Is the United States deindustrializing? When do you think manufacturing in America reached its peak? 
  6. What share of the total population had air conditioning in 1970?
  7. What share of the poor population (as defined by US Census) has air conditioning tody?
  8. Who has more living space, an average individual living in London, Paris or Vienna or the average poor American?
  9. Does wearing seatbelts save lives?
  10. Does recycling paper save trees?
  11. This chart depicts the US trade deficit since 1960. Is the trend a good or bad omen for US prosperity?
  12. Would you rather be in the poorest 10% of America today, or the wealthiest American in 1890? How about 1790? Why?
  13. List some natural resources. What makes them valuable? Will we run out of them?
  14. What caused the Depression?
  15. What ended the Depression?
  16. Do you know how to make a simple plastic frisbee? Explain.
  17. Why is Bill Gates so rich?
  18. Why is President Bush so rich?

True or False 

True or False 

  1. If Americans began eating more chicken and less beef, in the years ahead the number of chickens would increase and the number of beef cattle would decline.
  2. The total employment of Americans would be greater and their income levels higher if Americans did not buy so many things from foreigners.
  3. Jobs are the key to economic prosperity; more jobs will mean higher income levels and living standards.
  4. Both the buyer and seller gain from voluntary exchange and this is why they are both willing to agree to the trade.
  5. Government finance and spending for public works projects like sports stadiums, civic centers and the dredging of rivers and harbors increase total employment.
  6. The U.S. economy was harmed as employment in defense related industries was reduced when the Cold War came to an end.
  7. The War in Iraq is good for the U. S. economy because the production of military equipment provides Americans with jobs.
  8. Increases in the supply of money relative to goods and services will cause inflation.
  9. If the minimum wage were increased to $12, poverty could be virtually eliminated in the United States.
  10. American imports provide foreigners with the dollars required to buy U.S. exports. If Americans spent less on imports, foreigners would acquire fewer dollars and therefore they would have to reduce their purchases of American exports.
  11. Adjusted for inflation, the per capita income in the United States is lower today than it was in 1950.
  12. The profits of business account for approximately 25 percent of the sales price for the typical good purchased by consumers.
  13. The per capita income in Japan is higher than in the United States.
  14. The air pollution levels in the United States are higher today than they were in 1970.
  15. Voters have a strong incentive to cast a well-informed vote.
  16. Even though the top federal personal income tax rate in the United States has been cut from 70 percent in 1980 to 35 percent today, the share of the income tax paid by the 1 percent of taxpayers with the highest incomes has risen.
  17. Americans could help low-wage workers in countries like Mexico and China by refusing to purchase goods produced by businesses paying low wages in those countries.
  18. If we rely on markets, it is virtually certain that the world will run out of several highly valued resources during the next couple of decades.
  19. The U.S. economy is hurt when producers in countries like China supply goods at low prices to American consumers.
  20. Future income levels and living standards will decline in countries that run trade deficits (those that import more than they export).
  21. Local residents would be better off if they bought more goods locally and fewer from businesses outside of the local community.
  22. Technological changes that reduce costs and eliminate many products that were previously produced are bad for the economy because they will reduce the number of jobs available to workers.
  23. As Americans import more goods and services, total employment in the United States will fall because imports destroy jobs.
  24. When exports increase as a share of the U.S. economy, total employment will increase because exports create jobs.
  25. As U.S. imports from Mexico and China have increased since the mid-1990s, total employment in the United States has declined and the rate of unemployment has increased.

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