Government Chapter 18&19 Review Questions

The Federal Reserve System is made up of how many regional banks?

12

Which of the following best describes stagflation?

A period in which prices are rising rapidly but the economy is growing slowly

What did Congress do to the Social Security system in 1972?

Added protections against inflation

Which public-assistance program drew criticism from conservatives for discouraging its recipients from working?

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)

The distribution of food-stamps vouchers is an example of which stage of the policy-making process?

policy output

The majority of federal dollars spent on education go toward

programs to enhance equal opportunity.

Which of these is an example of how Congress engages in blame avoidance?

By handing the job of imposing regulations to a regulatory agency

A booming economy helped which of these presidents win his reelection bid?

Clinton

What is the second stage of the policy process?

Deliberation

Why has the Democratic Party won more support from teachers' groups than the Republican Party has?

Democrats have proposed higher levels of funding for public schools.

Who proposed to end the Great Depression by offering to give all those over 60 years of age approximately the equivalent of $3,200 (in today's dollars) per month to spend immediately?

Dr. Francis E. Townsend

If enacted, the flat tax would do which of the following?

Eliminate the system of progressive taxation

Which of the following regulatory agencies was not created until long AFTER the first wave of regulation in the 1930s?

Environmental Protection Agency

Which of the following is the main justification for government regulation?

Free markets often produce negative consequences when left to their own devices.

Which of these was most instrumental in obtaining the right to go to good public schools in the United States?

Gaining the right to vote

Which of the following education policies are supported by Republicans?

Giving parents school choice through vouchers

Which of the following statements explains why governments are necessary for a market economy to work?

Governments provide a stable legal framework that helps markets work effectively.

What was Ralph Nader's role in the regulatory history of the 1960s?

He founded several consumer-advocacy organizations.

Which of the following presidents lost his reelection bid because of a bad economy?

Hoover

What is the largest source of federal revenue?

Individual income taxes

What do governments primarily try to avoid when setting economic policy?

Inflation and unemployment

Which of the following is one effect of increases in the money supply?

Interest rates go down, enabling consumers and investors to borrow and spend more.

What was one result of the Great Depression?

It began an era of Democratic dominance.

Tax credits for college tuition, deductions for mortgage interest on owner-occupied homes, and deductions for charitable contributions are all examples of

tax prefernces

The president of which Federal Reserve branch always has a vote on the Fed's Open Market Committee?

New York

The food stamp and supplemental security income (SSI) programs were first proposed by which president?

Nixon

What happens when an agency goes beyond the zone of acceptance?

Political opposition arises and the agency backtracks.

Which of the following statements is an example of a criticism of public housing programs?

Public housing programs encourage racial segregation and create large concentrations of poverty.

Alan Greenspan was first appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve by which president?

Ronald Reagan

Which of the following is an example of a federal program that is based on the insurance principle?

Social Security

Which of these groups is eligible for Medicare coverage?

Social Security recipients over the age of 65

Which of the following led Americans to begin complaining about higher taxes in the 1970s?

Standards of living stagnated while taxes continued to rise.

Which of the following leads most directly to economic growth?

Technological innovation

What is the most important constitutional basis for federal regulation?

The Commerce Clause

What did Congress establish in 1946 to advise the president about the state of the national and international economy?

The Council of Economic Advisers

Which of the following makes the most important decisions affecting the day-to-day workings of the U.S. economy?

The Fed's Open Market Committee

Which piece of legislation resulted from the work of muckrakers during the Progressive Era?

The Sherman Antitrust Act

Which of the following laws created a broad range of social programs during the Great Depression?

The Social Security Act

Which of these nations has the lowest average mathematics literacy for 15-year-olds?

The United States

Which of the following is an example of a criticism leveled at the No Child Left Behind Act?

The act did not give schools the necessary resources to improve themselves.

The term "stagflation" refers to a period characterized by

the combination of high inflation and high unemployment.

Politicians focus a lot of attention on striking a balance between social programs and spending that benefit

the elderly and the young.

Which of the following is a direct result of the business cycle?

The periodic occurrence of recessions

Which of these is an example of the political consequences of a recession?

The president loses popularity.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the relationship between the federal government and the U.S. economy during the twentieth century?

The role of the federal government in the economy became more expansive during the twentieth century.

Which of the following statements best explains why Social Security and Medicare are often referred to as the "third rail" of American politics?

These programs cannot be touched in any way without hurting the person or party who tries to change them.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the 2001 tax cuts initiated by President Bush?

They made the tax system less progressive.

How did Congress generate the first revenue to pay for the maintenance of public schools?

Through the sale of land west of the Appalachian Mountains

Which group pays the highest rates in a regressive tax?

the poor

Which of these is an example of a foreign-policy action taken by only one president?

Using U.S. troops to prevent ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is

a highly effective lobby for senior citizens.

Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is cited as an argument for

a small government role in the economy.

Keynesian economic theories first became widely accepted among American politicians

after World War II.

Which stage of the policy-making process is most directly influenced by studies that analyze policy outcomes?

agenda setting

Which of the following terms refers to the alternation between periods of growth and periods of slowdown?

buisness cycle

The total amount of the taxes that a household pays is called

the tax burden

The removal of government rules governing various activities is called

deregulation.

Which group has been able to create public policy through its use of the 1973 Endangered Species Act?

federal courts

After the Executive Office of the President, the agency with the most power over economic policy is

federal reserve

Policy outputs are best described as

goods and services provided to citizens.

Herbert Hoover failed in his reelection bid in 1932 largely because

he was blamed for the onset of the Great Depression.

Compared to other democratic nations, in the United States

income inequality is higher.

The best way for the Fed to appear independent of the president is to

listen carefully to the president and his advisors but act in a way so as not to provoke controversy.

Compared with those in other developed countries, U.S. tax rates and overall tax burden are

low and falling

The centerpiece of Ross Perot's 1992 campaign for the presidency was

lowering the budget deficit.

One of the reasons that critics of the Social Security system believe it is unsustainable is that

most people receive more in benefits than they pay into the system.

Most politicians feel that the Social Security system

must be completely immunized from budget cuts.

Programs designed to aid impoverished children are?

neither as lavish nor as user-friendly as those designed to help the elderly.