Political Economy & Development

Question 1

When the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949, China’s economy was suffering from more than a hundred years of rebellion, invasion, civil war, and bad government. True or False

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In the early part of the Chinese communist revolution, the government initially allowed some private ownership and many aspects of capitalism to continue in order to gain support for the government and revive the economy. True or False

Answer 2

True

Question 3

In the beginning of communist rule, China’s planned economy yielded horrible results with bureaucratic bottlenecks and unnecessary, wasteful red-tape. True or False

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In spite of the reforms that were instituted by Deng, much of China’s economy today is still dominated by prices being set by administrative decree rather than market forces. True or False

Answer 4

False

Question 5

Although vastly outnumbered by private enterprises with many more workers in today’s Chinese economy, state-owned enterprises still dominate its critical parts. True or False

Answer 5

True

Question 6

In China, the state-owned sector remains a huge drain on the country’s economy. True or False

Answer 6

True

Question 7

The Chinese Communist Party is still exclusively manned by people that come from the public sector and refuse to allow owners of private enterprises to join. True or False

Answer 7

False

Question 8

The PRC has had the fastest-growing major economy in the world for more than two decades. True or False

Answer 8

True

Question 9

Under Deng’s revamped agricultural system, the village still owns the farmland, but it is contracted out by the local government to individual families. True or False

Answer 9

True

Question 10

Although economic reform has generated a tremendous amount of opportunities for the people of China, it has also brought with it serious social problems that include crime and prostitution. True or False

Answer 10

True

Question 11

The government of China officially reports that the unemployment rate is about 4 percent of the urban labor force, a figure that many believe is actually two to three times higher. True or False

Answer 11

True

Question 12

In spite of the fact that women benefitted from socio-economic reforms since the founding of the PRC, with the introduction of market reforms the trends are going toward greater inequality for women, keeping the majority in lower-paying, subordinate positions. True or False

Answer 12

True

Question 13

Farm labor has become increasingly feminized as many men move to jobs in rural industry or migrate to the cities. True or False

Answer 13

True

Question 14

While the PRC government praises the success of the one-child policy, it has been met with little resistance in the rural areas because of the benefits that are provided. True or False

Answer 14

False

Question 15

Although there has been some relaxation of the one-child policy, especially for rural couples and ethnic minorities, the PRC has announced that it will remain in effect until at least 2015. True or False

Answer 15

True

Question 16

Unlike the United States, China has been able to better control pollution by introducing harsher restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions. True or False

Answer 16

False

Question 17

Chinese exports have soared from negligible levels in the late 1970s to the world leader, ahead of Germany, the United States, and Japan. True or False

Answer 17

True

Question 18

In spite of China’s dramatic economic growth rates in foreign trade, it is still more economically independent in this area than the United States or Japan. True or False

Answer 18

False

Question 19

Despite having large domestic sources of petroleum and sizeable untapped reserves, China is now a net importer of oil. True or False

Answer 19

True

Question 20

Because of the CCP ideology, it has made every effort to dissuade and limit accessibility to cigarettes, ostracizing smokers from leadership positions. True or False

Answer 20

False

Question 21

Under Deng Xiaoping and his successors, the party-state has given up much of its control of the economy and encouraged free market forces, private ownership, international trade, and foreign investment. True or False

Answer 21

True

Question 22

During World War II, China fought against the United States aligning itself with the former Soviet Union. True or False

Answer 22

False

Question 23

In the early 1950s, the CCP set up a: a) market oriented economy for the rural areas, b) socialist planned economy based on the Soviet model, c) flexible system that incorporated elements of both socialism and free market principles, d) rigidly impenetrable economic system that was geared only for domestic self-reliance and nothing more.

Answer 23

b) socialist planned economy based on the Soviet model

Question 24

Mao’s approach and vision for the Chinese economy, reflective of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, was to: a) establish a highly, streamlined bureaucracy where efficiency took priority over redundancy and rewards would be doled out based on performance, b) create a less bureaucratic and more egalitarian system compared to the Soviet model, c) establish a hybrid system of free economic zones in some sectors of society while simultaneously experimenting with socialist principles in other sectors, d) eradicate any challengers or threats to one-party rule so that the CPP would exist and dominate in perpetuity.

Answer 24

c) establish a hybrid system of free economic zones in some sectors of society while simultaneously experimenting with socialist principles in other sectors,

Question 25

What did Den Xiaoping mean when he remarked, “It doesn’t matter whether a cat is white or black, as long as it catches mice.” a) It is better to survive even if it meant eating mice rather than starve to death, b) Don’t be preoccupied with your neighbor’s behavior. Focus on your own to assure the success of the revolution. c) Don’t be overly concerned whether a particular policy is socialist or capitalist as long as it helps the economy, d) It is better to be quick to change course, like a cat when it captures a mouse, while being true to the revolution.

Answer 25

c) Don’t be overly concerned whether a particular policy is socialist or capitalist as long as it helps the economy

Question 26

Companies in which a majority of ownership control is held by the government: a) government driven businesses, b) state controlled firms, c) state-owned enterprises, d) government directed companies.

Answer 26

c) state-owned enterprises

Question 27

From 1990 to 2009, China’s GDP per capita grew at an average rate of a little over: a) 5.2%, b) 6.6%, c) 7.23%, d) 9%.

Answer 27

d) 9%

Question 28

As of 2010, GDP per capita in the United States was $47,500 while China’s was: a) $7,400, b) $12,900, c) $14, 300, d) $19,500.

Answer 28

a) $7,400

Question 29

The term used by the government of China to refer to the country’s current economic system: a) communist state economy, b) social-democratic economy, c) socialist market economy, d) Marxist structured economy.

Answer 29

c) socialist market economy

Question 30

In the mid to late 1950s when collectivization was introduced in the Chinese countryside, a) peasants were allowed to keep whatever they produced, b) peasants had to sell most crops and other farm products to the state at low fixed prices, c) peasants were free to sell their products to the highest bidder, d) peasants earned salaries based on market demands.

Answer 30

b) peasants had to sell most crops and other farm products to the state at low fixed prices

Question 31

The system put into practice in China beginning in the early 1980s in which the major decisions about agricultural production are made by individual farm families based on a profit motive rather than by a people’s commune or the government: a) elaborate local control, b) bourgeois decision-making, c) decoupling agrarian reform, d) household responsibility system.

Answer 31

d) household responsibility system.

Question 32

Today, how many people are employed in rural factories and businesses outside of the urban areas in China? a) 60 million, b) 190 million, c) 270 million, d) 325 million.

Answer 32

b) 190 million

Question 33

A feature of China’s socialist economy during the Maoist era (1949–1976) that provided guarantees of lifetime employment, income, and basic cradle-to-grave benefits to most urban and rural workers: a) communist commitment system, b) iron rice bowl, c) communal safety net, d) socialist security rights.

Answer 33

b) iron rice bowl

Question 34

Migrants from the rural areas of China who have moved temporarily to the cities to find employment: a) floating population, b) agrarian labor migration, c) employment safety valve, d) egalitarian adjustment activity.

Answer 34

a) floating population

Question 35

Because of the rising disparities in income distribution, especially between the urban areas of China, the CCP has begun to promote the development of a higher average standard of living for the whole country, referred to as: a) egalitarian socialism, b) constructive redistribution, c) harmonious socialist society, d) equitable income balance.

Answer 35

c) harmonious socialist society

Question 36

At China’s current population growth rate, it will double in: a) 45 years, b) 56 years, c) 91 years, d) 144 years.

Answer 36

d) 144 years

Question 37

How much did foreign trade account for the PRC’s GDP from 2000-2009? a) 39%, b) 47%, d) 53%, d) 60%.

Answer 37

d) 60%

Question 38

What is the primary reason that attracts foreign companies and investors to the one-party, authoritarian state known as China? a) the government’s stability, b) the low wages, c) the lack of oversight, d) the government’s subsidies.

Answer 38

b) the low wages*

Question 39

Sino is a term derived from Latin that is often used to refer to: a) Argentina, b) China, c) New Zealand, d) Indonesia.

Answer 39

b) China

Question 40

Why did Sino-American relations warm up after decades of hostility and tension? a) China was fearful that the United States would one release its nuclear arsenal against it, b) Each country saw the Soviet Union as its main enemy and decided to cooperate with each other in order to weaken their common foe. c) For years, religious organizations in the U.S. had been demanding that Washington seek some form of rapprochement, d) The U.S. was losing the Vietnam War and believed that the only it could extricate itself was by establishing closer ties with China, Vietnam’s primary supporter.

Answer 40

b) Each country saw the Soviet Union as its main enemy and decided to cooperate with each other in order to weaken their common foe.

Question 41

In 2009, U.S. imports from China totaled almost: a) $70 billion, b) $175 billion, c) $300 billion, d) $450 billion.

Answer 41

c) $300 billion,

Question 42

How much U.S. government debt is owed to China, according to the authors? a) $450 billion, b) $530 billion, c) $750 billion, d) $900 billion.

Answer 42

d) $900 billion

Question 43

In mid-to the late 1950s, what did the CCP do in the countryside? a) The state reorganized peasants into ___________ farms and _________ b) in which the ________, not ____________, owned the land, c) and local officials directed all ___________ and ______.

Answer 43

a) collective, communes b) village, individuals c) production, labor

Question 44

What methods have been applied by China’s government to enforce its one-child policy? a) Intensive ______ campaigns laud the patriotic virtues and economic benefits of small families. b) Positive incentives such as more _________ or preferred ________ have been offered to couples with only one child. c) Large _____ and loss of _____ have been used to punish violators.

Answer 44

a) media b) farmland, housing c) fines, jobs

Question 45

In the early 1980s, China embarked on a strategy of using trade as a central component of Deng Xiaoping’s drive for economic development which included: a) following the model _______-____ _______ pioneered by ______ and newly industrializing countries (NICs) such as the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Taiwan. b) taking advantage of ____-_____ domestic ______ to produce goods that are in demand internationally. c) using the _________ from those goods to __________ the economy.

Answer 45

a) export-led growth, Japan b) low-wage, labor c) earnings, modernize

Question 46

What are some of the concerns raised by critics of U.S.-China trade policy? a) the PRC engages in unfair ______ practices, b) exploits __________ labor, c) and suppresses independent ______ activity.

Answer 46

a) trade b) sweatshop c) union

Question 47

How does the United States benefit from U.S. trade with China? a) consumers benefit greatly by the availability of a large variety of _____- __________ products. b) the United States should focus on developing more _____-_____ businesses to create jobs rather than trying to compete with China and other countries in “old- fashioned” ______-__________ industries. c) many American firms have huge ___________ in China, which will grow as will ________for American products as that country becomes more modern and prosperous.

Answer 47

a) less-expensive b) high-tech, labor-intensive c) investments, demand