Download MT1 ECN 111B 2011 A - Carl Mosk`s Economics Site

University of California at Davis
Economics 111B, Summer Session 1, 2011
Department of Economics
Carl Mosk
Midterm Examination #1
I
True/False (60 points total)
For each of the following statements fill in the circle in the column “T” for
true, or “F” for false on your Scantron. A correct answer is worth 2 points.
[1]
TRUE or FALSE
The proportion of all Southern farms owning slaves fell during
the decades leading up to 1860
FALSE – 9: 173
[2]
TRUE or FALSE
After the 1820s three-quarters of Britain’s import of raw cotton
came from the United States
TRUE – 9: 178
[3]
TRUE or FALSE
TRUE – 9: 178
[4]
TRUE or FALSE
The time spent clearing land was lower in the Midwest during
the 1850s than it was in the South
FALSE – 9: 181
[5]
TRUE or FALSE
When the pioneers first approached the Midwest, they were
fortunate to be able to use steel plows
FALSE – 9: 182
[6]
TRUE or FALSE
Steam-powered threshing machines became common in
American farming in the 1850s
TRUE – 9: 183
[7]
TRUE or FALSE
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed popular sovereignty
over the issue of slavery in Kansas
TRUE – 9: 184
[8]
TRUE or FALSE
The growth of the slave population over the period 1790-1860
suggests that
slaves were “bred” at maximum rates FALSE – 10: 190
[9]
TRUE or FALSE
Slave women tended to have children as soon as it was
biologically possible FALSE – 10: 192
[10]
TRUE or FALSE
The research carried out by Conrad and Meyer involved
estimating the annual returns to slave agriculture
TRUE – 10: 193
[11]
TRUE or FALSE
Most recent research undermines the abolitionist claim that slave
breeding was common on plantations
FALSE – 10: 195
[12]
TRUE or FALSE
In contrast to the experience of whites, the birth rate among
slaves increased during the antebellum era
FALSE – 10: 195
[13]
TRUE or FALSE
Death rates for slave children under the age of 5 were similar to
those for white children
FALSE – 10: 197
By 1860 about half of all Southern farmers owned no slave
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[14]
TRUE or FALSE
Critics of Time on the Cross argue that slave families were
constantly broken up by sales of children, wives and husbands TRUE – 10: 200
[15]
TRUE or FALSE
The proportion of the Northern male population of military age
drafted into the Union army during the Civil War was around 20 percent
TRUE – 13: 268
[16]
TRUE or FALSE
The statistical evidence available supports the “residual
claimant” hypothesis that labor’s share of income fell during the Civil War
FALSE – 13: 270
[17]
TRUE or FALSE
Those Southern states with the fewest slave plantations showed
the best record of growth for the South as a whole after the end of the Civil War
TRUE – 13: 270
[18]
TRUE or FALSE
FALSE – 13: 272
Cotton output per acre rose sharply after the Civil War
[19]
TRUE or FALSE
slavery was very low
Ransom and Sutch argued that the rate of exploitation under
FALSE – 13: 272
[20]
TRUE or FALSE
The standard agreement for sharecropping was a fifty-fifty split
of the crop TRUE – 13: 274
[21]
TRUE or FALSE
Some studies suggest that the sharecropper incomes would have
been two or three times higher had they owned the capital and land they worked with
TRUE – 13: 275
[22]
TRUE or FALSE
Congress gave around 10 percent of the public domain to the
four transcontinental railroads
TRUE – 14: 288
[23]
TRUE or FALSE
According to Rostow the American take-off into sustained
growth occurred in the immediate post-Civil War period
FALSE – 14: 290
[24]
TRUE or FALSE
According to Schumpeter the long cyclical upswing of period
beginning in 1875 was due to the “railroadization of the world”
TRUE – 14: 290
[25]
TRUE or FALSE
Without the railroads government law and practice regarding
regulation would not have developed in the United States
FALSE – 14: 292
[26]
TRUE or FALSE
Chandler emphasized the importance of external economies in
developing his theory of the rise of large scale American business organizations
FALSE – 17: 369
[27]
TRUE or FALSE
Price wars in the bromine industry during the 1880s encouraged
firms in the industry to coordinate their activities
TRUE – 17: 369
[28]
TRUE or FALSE
In Munn v Illinois Chief Justice Waite rejected the view that the
government could not apply its traditional power to modern business
FALSE – 17:
373
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[29]
TRUE or FALSE
The evidence overwhelming supports the view of Kolko that
Congress created the ICC as a cartel manager
FALSE – 17: 374
[30]
TRUE or FALSE
The functions of the ICC were eventually absorbed by the
Department of Transportation
TRUE – 17: 375
II
Essay (40 points total)
From the following two essay questions, select one. Please write a well
organized essay answer to the question that you select.
II.A
The Civil War
Analyzing the military potential of the Union and Confederacy from an economic
point of view, explain why it was likely that the Confederacy would lose the Civil
War. Given this economic reality, what strategy did the Confederacy attempt to
employ to gain independence from the United States? What strategy did the
Union – and Lincoln in particular as commander in chief of the Union forces employ in countering the strategy of the Confederacy? Explain.
[40 points possible]
II.B
The Railroads
What was the political context in which Walt Rostow put forward his theory
about the importance of the railroads for American economic development? What
were the stages he thought market oriented economies would go through (describe
them in detail)? Why did he think the building of the railroads was particularly
important for the take off phase in the case of the United States? Did he think the
railroads played the same role in English economic development? Explain.
[40 points possible]
END
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