Inequality and Public Policy Exam 2 prep (quiz qs)

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 4] Bartels used seven of the 2004 survey questions for measures of political information among 1,066 respondents. How many of the respondents answered all seven questions correctly?

2

[Unequal Democracy] Which of the following income groups is least likely to experience income growth under a Democratic president between 1949 and 2014?

95th percentile

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 4] Which of the following data sources does Bartels use primarily to understand Americans' views about inequality?

American national election survey

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 6] In [___], [___] make up the majority of the population. Walloons speak [___] while Flemings speak [___].

Belgium, Flemings, French, Dutch

[Rueda 2005] Most [___] parties in Europe rely even more on insiders for their political support than social democratic ones, and they have been just as reluctant to integrate the interests of outsiders.

Communist

[Esping-Andersen] A hallmark of is its view that commodification of individuals is morally degrading, socially corrupting, atomizing, and anomic. Individuals are not meant to compete or struggle, but to subordinate self-interests to recognized authority and prevailing institutions.

Conservative ideology

[Unequal Democracy] What is your best way to hold senators accountable to your policy opinions?

Contact them or members of the their staff

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 4] The vast literature on fiscal federalism points to as a force that reduces the size of government and the provision of public goods.

Decentralization

[Esping-Andersen] [___] occurs when a services is rendered as a matter of right, and when a person can maintain a livelihood without reliance on the market.

Decommodification

[Unequal Democracy] Presidents of which political party tend to increase economic growth during their honeymoon years?

Democratic Party

[Reid] Which of the following countries has the highest VAT rate?

Denmark

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 7] While the real value of the minimum wage has eroded substantially over the past 50 years, the federal government has embraced a very different policy to bolster the incomes of low-wage workers: the [___]. (Do not write or include the acronym.)

Earned Income Tax Credit

[Rueda 2005] To evaluate the hypotheses about societal preferences over labor-market policies, Rueda used the [___] survey.

Eurobarometer

From 1984 to 2012, Americans' support for egalitarian values increased modestly although Americans remain less supportive of redistribution than the OECD average.

False

[Blau & Kahn 2007] In their sample, the gender gap in educational attainment can explain why women are paid less than men.

False

[Blau & Kahn 2007] Once the authors accounted for gender differences in education, labor force experience, race, occupation, industry, and union status, the gender pay gap became extremely small.

False

[Gilens 2003] From 1950 to 1992, Gilens found a strong correlation between the percentage of African Americans in newsmagazine pictures of the poor and the true percent of African Americans among the poor.

False

[Gilens 2003] Since the end of World War II, the American media has always exaggerated poverty among African Americans.

False

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 4] As Americans become more politically informed, the partisan gap in perceptions of inequality will disappear.

False

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 6] There is robust statistical evidence for the effect of "death tax" on support for estate tax repeal. In other words, when the wording, "death tax" is used instead of "estate tax," respondents are more likely to express their support for repealing the tax.

False

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 7] Compared to 1945, both the real average hourly pay and the real value of the minimum wage in 2015 decreased.

False

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 7] The average level of public support for a higher minimum wage has been largely below 60% between 1945 and 2015.

False

[Unequal Democracy] According to the 2012 ANES survey, more respondents support corporate tax increases than income tax increases.

False

[Unequal Democracy] Bartels thinks that Obama's successful reelection in 2012 would have been impossible without Obama's campaign team's strategy focusing on inequality and exploiting Romney's negative image as a multimillionaire.

False

[Unequal Democracy] Between 1982 and 2014, Republican presidents outperformed Democratic presidents in increasing the average annual growth rate of the 95 percentile income group.

False

[Unequal Democracy] In the wake of the Great Recession, US unemployment rate was lower than the OECD average throughout the years between 2008 and 2015.

False

[Unequal Democracy] Thanks to Republicans' ideological emphasis on curbing inflation, the average inflation rate has been significantly lower under Republican presidents than Democratic presidents.

False

[Connell, Dorr, & Shin] According to the results from their Senate analysis, almost all senators from the Democratic Party are more likely to vote yea on congressional bills that seek to increase taxes for the rich when the level of inequality in their state increases.

Falsw

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 2] Between 1993 and 1997, which of the following countries had the highest level of public ownership in airlines, road freight, railways, telecommunications, post, electricity, and gas?

France

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 5] Which of the following was NOT mentioned as one of the reasons for why the labor movement was much less successful in the U.S. than in Europe?

High inequality

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 5] In the United Kingdom, was the closest equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court until its power was stripped from it in the triumph of parliamentary democracy.

House of Lords

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 6] Which of the following countries does NOT have a high level of social welfare spending as a share of GDP when compared to the rest?

Iceland

[Connell, Dorr, & Shin] According to the results from their cross-national analysis, the authors find that leftist governments impose higher taxes on the rich in response to rising inequality.

Income

[Winters & Page] Which of the following material power indices assigns a higher total group power index to the top 0.1%?

Income based material power index

[Gilens & Page] Which of the following theories do the authors NOT consider?

Inter-Elite Competition

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 5] Write the name (in the order of First and Last names) of the former Chief Justice of the United States who increased the power and independence of the Supreme Court by manipulating Thomas Jefferson.

John Marshall

[Esping-Andersen] Democracy became an Achilles' heel for many . They feared universal suffrage, for it would be likely to politicize the distributional struggle, pervert the market, and fuel inefficiencies.

Liberals

[Milanovic Vignette 3.3] The EU comprises countries that span the spectrum from , the richest country in the world, with a GDP per capita of more than $PPP 70,000 to Romania with a GDP per capita of only $PPP 10,000.

Luxembourg

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 5] Which senator said "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief"? Spell the senator's last name correctly (no first name!).

Mccain

[Reid] Winston Churchill and Jean [___] , two Europeans who understood and admitted the United States were instrumental in the creation of Europe's own bill of rights and its pan-continental courts.

Monnet

[Unequal Democracy] [___] individuals are least likely to turn out in elections, but they are most likely to contact their senators.

None of the answers

[Reid] Reid talks about parental leaves and generous salary replacement programs through an interview with [___] people, Suranhild and her husband Martin Aenstad.

Norwegian

[Rueda 2005] [___] are defined as those who are unemployed, employed full-time in fixed-term and temporary jobs (unless they do not want a permanent job), employed part time (unless they do not want a full-time job), and studying.

Outsiders

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 3] Which of the following economic explanations for the redistributive gap between the U.S. and Europe do Alesina and Glaeser find more useful?

Perceptions about upward mobility

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 6] The [___] Party was the first party in US history dedicated to redistribution from the rich to the poor.

Populist

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 1] In Chapter 1, Alesina and Glaeser present an overview of how three different types of political institutions might influence the redistributive gap between the U.S. and Europe. Which of the following is NOT one of the political institutions the authors consider?

Presidential v Parliamentary systems

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 6] Countries that are tend to have a higher level of social spending (as a share of GDP) than countries that are the opposite.

Racially homogenous

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 4] To implement New Deal measures, President [___] threatened to strip the Supreme Court of some of its independence.

Roosevelt

[Unequal Democracy] [___] rules offer more scope for individual action, reducing the importance of [___] voting and giving [___] more leeway to respond to constituency pressures.

Senate, party-line, senators

[Connell, Dorr, & Shin] At the end of their article, the authors note that the Democratic Party has been ideologically diverse with its more conservative factions. What are they called?

Southern democrats and blue dog democrats

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 5] Obama and Congress faced the question of what to do with the expiring Bush tax cuts since the 2001 EGTRRA tax cut contained "[___]" provisions.

Sunset

[Milanovic Vignette 3.3] The state-level Gini coefficients start at 33 points in South Dakota and Wisconsin (the two most equal states) and end with [___] and Tennessee, whose Gini coefficients are almost at Latin American levels, around 45 Gini points.

Texas

[Gilens 2003] To assess changes in the news media portrayals of poverty, Gilens examined three weekly news magazines. Which of the following is NOT one of the three magazines?

The Economist

[Gilens 2003] From 1964 to 1967, which of the following topics was consistently and substantially covered in newsmagazine poverty stories?

The War on Poverty

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 6] New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Paul Krugman mocked the off-again, on-again scheme of the 2001 EGTRRA tax cut as the following:

Throw Your Mamma From the Train Act of 2001

In general, Americans are much more geographically mobile than Europeans.

True

Rueda (2005) predicted that the losers in the labor market arena may turn away from mainstream parties to join extreme right parties.

True

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 1] Generally speaking, Americans think that the poor are lazy, and Europeans think that the poor are unfortunate.

True

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 1] Racial divisions and racial preferences appear to deter redistribution, especially when poverty is concentrated in minority groups.

True

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 6] Karl Marx thought that ethnic divisions would pose a challenge for socialism in the United States.

True

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 6] Racial fractionalization is a better predictor of social welfare spending than linguistic fractionalization.

True

[Blau & Kahn 2007] In their sample, gender differences in occupation and industry can explain why women are paid less than men.

True

[Gilens & Page] According to Charles Beard, the primary objective of the framers of the U.S. Constitution was to protect private property, favoring the economic interests of wealthy merchants and plantation owners rather than the interests of then-majority small farmers, laborers, and craft workers.

True

[Gilens & Page] Ordinary citizens do not have uniquely substantial power over policy decisions, and they have little or no independent influence on policy at all.

True

[Gilens & Page] Some particular U.S. membership organizations—especially the AARP and labor unions—tend to favor the same policies as average citizens.

True

[Gilens 2003] Television news exaggerated the percentage of black among the poor to an even greater extent than did the newsmagazines.

True

[Milanovic Vignette 3.3] The US is more unequal than individual European countries like France, Spain, or Germany, but its inequality is comparable to that of the EU as a whole.

True

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 4] People's views about equality are strongly correlated with their broader political ideology and partisanship.

True

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 6] According to a variety of polls, most Americans oppose the estate tax.

True

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 6] Among those concerned about growing economic inequality, politically well-informed respondents were less likely to support repealing estate tax than those who were ill-informed.

True

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 6] Bartels suggests that the estate tax was quite unpopular with the American public long before conservative think tanks, interest groups, and propagandists came along.

True

[Unequal Democracy] According to the 2012 ANES survey, most respondents support income tax increases on people making over $1 million per year.

True

[Unequal Democracy] According to the 2012 ANES survey, most respondents support income tax increases on people making over $250,000 per year.

True

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 2] Between 1993 and 1997, which of the following countries had the lowest level of public ownership in airlines, road freight, railways, telecommunications, post, electricity, and gas?

UK

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 2] Which of the following countries in Europe—including both continental and non-continental—had the lowest level of total government expenditure as a percentage of GDP in 2000?

UK

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 2] Which of the following countries in Europe—including both continental and non-continental—had the lowest level of total government expenditure on social programs as a percentage of GDP in 1998?

UK

[Reid] Which of the following countries has the most generous public healthcare in terms of percentage of health costs paid by the government?

UK

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 2] Choose all countries that did not have a legally mandated minimum annual leave in 1992.

US, UK

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 4] Bartels used seven of the 2004 survey questions for measures of political information among respondents. Which of the following is NOT one of the questions?

What job or office did Joe Biden hold?

[Unequal Democracy] Which of the following are individuals more likely to support as they get wealthier?

budget cuts

[Unequal Democracy] Compared to Republican presidents, Democratic presidents [___] market income inequality and [___] redistribution via taxation between 1979 and 2011.

decreased, increased

[Unequal Democracy] Myopic voters tend to vote for incumbents who can stimulate growth during [___] years. The [___] Party is better at getting the votes of myopic voters and is especially good at increasing the cumulative growth of the [___] percentile income group.

election, Republican, 95

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 5] Why hasn't the U.S. abandoned the majoritarian electoral system? (Choose Two)

ethnic and racial fractionalization, powerful conservative forces

[Gilens & Page] James Madison's Federalist Paper 10 analyzed politics in terms of [___]—a somewhat fuzzy concept that apparently encompassed political parties and even popular majorities, as well as what we would today consider organized interest groups, business firms, and industrial sectors.

factions

[Unequal Democracy] Compared to citizens of other affluent democracies, Americans were less supportive of increasing government regulation and oversight of the national economy in [___].

in both 2009 and 2010

[Rueda 2005] The traditional partisanship school of comparative political economy (e.g., Alt (1985) and Hibbs (1977)) believes that social democratic parties will promote the interests of [___].

labor

[Unequal Democracy] Americans' public policy mood from 1952 to 2014 show that the public grew much more [___] over the eight years of Dwight Eisenhower's presidency, much more [___] while John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter were in office, and much more [___] under Ronald Reagan.

liberal, conservative, liberal

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 7] In the 2007 case of a "clean" minimum wage increase, House Republicans were [___].

more responsive to constituent opinions than Senate Republicans

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 4] For much of American history, and at least until World War II, the Supreme Court was known to be [___]-business. In 1894, the Supreme Court made decision against the introduction of a federal [___] tax.

pro, income

[Alesina & Glaeser Chapter 4] Generally speaking, [___] representation is positively correlated with redistributive transfers as a share of GDP.

proportional

[Rueda 2005] Using the cabinet partisanship variable constructed by Cusack (1997), Rueda finds a significant partisan effect on the following policy:

severance pay

[Unequal Democracy] In the 2010 midterm election, Democrats suffered a net loss of 63 seats in the House. Obama himself referred to the election as

shellshacking

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 5] Among those who favored the 2001 tax cut strongly, public support for the bill was higher for respondents who were informed that the bill was [___].

signed by President Bush

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 5] According to political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, voters saw tax cuts as a lower priority than [___].

social security and medicare

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 7] The fate of the local (state) minimum wages seems to have hinged more crucially on:

union membership

[Unequal Democracy] Suppose that two representatives belong to different parties, but their districts have the same level of conservatism among their constituents. Based on their roll call votes between 2011 and 2013, their DW-NOMINATE scores [___]

will differ by about 1 on average

[Unequal Democracy Chapter 4] Which of the following groups has the most favorable "Feeling Thermometer" rating?

working-class people