Free Macroeconomics MCQs with Answers

1,499 Macroeconomics MCQs from Economics, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

The economy is studied as a whole through national income, gross domestic product, inflation, unemployment, economic growth and business cycles. Coverage includes aggregate demand and supply, consumption and investment, money and banking, fiscal and monetary policy, exchange rates and balance of payments, which distinguishes macroeconomics from the study of individual markets.

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1,499 questions · page 62 of 75

  • A. 2
  • B. 1/2
  • C. 0.2
  • D. 20

Explanation: The expenditure multiplier is 1/(1 − MPC), so with MPC of 0.5 it equals 1/0.5 = 2.

Correct answer: 2
  • A. consumption income
  • B. investment output
  • C. savings investment
  • D. output aggregate demand

Explanation: The multiplier measures how much total output changes in response to a change in aggregate demand or autonomous spending.

Correct answer: output aggregate demand
  • A. households to save more
  • B. firms to produce less
  • C. firms to produce more
  • D. the MPC to change

Explanation: If desired spending exceeds current income, firms experience an unintended fall in inventories.

Correct answer: firms to produce more
  • A. fall
  • B. not change
  • C. fluctuate
  • D. increase

Explanation: A positive slope means consumption rises as income rises, while a slope below one means consumption rises by less than the increase in…

Correct answer: increase
  • A. personal saving and private investment
  • B. personal saving and personal consumption
  • C. personal consumption and private investment
  • D. None of the above

Explanation: In an economy with no government or foreign trade, aggregate demand has only household consumption and private investment. Thus it is C + I.

Correct answer: personal consumption and private investment
  • A. consumption
  • B. investment
  • C. exports
  • D. work in the home

Explanation: National output measures recorded market production, but unpaid household work is generally not bought and sold in markets.

Correct answer: work in the home
  • A. At the present time
  • B. corrected for tax changes
  • C. corrected for changes in interest rates
  • D. At current prices

Explanation: Nominal GNP values current production using the prices prevailing in the same period.

Correct answer: At current prices
  • A. consumption investment exports
  • B. investment exports transfer payments
  • C. investment government expenditure exports
  • D. taxes exports, transfer payments

Explanation: Injections add spending to the circular flow: investment by firms, government expenditure and exports purchased by foreigners.

Correct answer: investment government expenditure exports
  • A. unemployment
  • B. inflation
  • C. economic growth
  • D. All of the above

Explanation: Macroeconomics studies economy-wide outcomes, including unemployment, inflation and economic growth.

Correct answer: All of the above
  • A. compare living standards of different countries
  • B. pay wages b multinational companies
  • C. estimate the costs of economic growth
  • D. convert nominal GDP to real GDP

Explanation: Purchasing power parity adjusts for differences in price levels between countries, allowing meaningful comparisons of the goods and…

Correct answer: compare living standards of different countries
  • A. taxes
  • B. prices
  • C. exchange rates
  • D. interest rates

Explanation: Real GDP values current production using prices from a fixed base year, removing the effect of inflation.

Correct answer: prices
  • A. investment + tax + exports
  • B. savings + government expenditure + exports
  • C. investment + government expenditure + imports
  • D. investment + government expenditure + exports

Explanation: Injections add spending to the circular flow and consist of investment, government expenditure and exports, written as I + G + X.

Correct answer: investment + government expenditure + exports
  • A. the slump to the expansion
  • B. peak to peak
  • C. peak to trough
  • D. trough to peak

Explanation: A complete business cycle runs from one peak through a contraction and trough to the next peak.

Correct answer: peak to peak
  • A. wholesale price index (WPI)
  • B. Consumer price index (CPI)
  • C. GDP deflator
  • D. Producer price index (PPI)

Explanation: The GDP deflator measures the price level of all domestically produced final goods and services relative to a base year.

Correct answer: GDP deflator
  • A. economic theory to explain the simultaneous increases in inflation and unemployment during the 1970s
  • B. The classical model to explain the prolonged existence of high unemployment during the Great Depression
  • C. fine tuning during the 1960s
  • D. the economy to grow at a rapid rate during the 1950s

Explanation: Keynesian macroeconomics gained prominence because classical theory could not explain the prolonged mass unemployment of the Great…

Correct answer: The classical model to explain the prolonged existence of high unemployment during the Great Depression
  • A. imperfectly competitive markets:
  • B. Only the long run adjustments to equilibrium in the economy
  • C. The functioning of individual industries and the behavior of individual decision-making units business firms and households
  • D. the economy as a whole

Explanation: Macroeconomics examines aggregate variables and the performance of the economy as a whole, such as total output, employment and inflation.

Correct answer: the economy as a whole
  • A. reduce inflation with little or no increase in unemployment
  • B. Increase inflation but would decrease unemployment by an unusually large amount
  • C. increase inflation with little or no decrease in unemployment
  • D. reduce inflation but it would increase unemployment by an unusually large amount

Explanation: With rational expectations, a credible contraction is incorporated into wage and price decisions quickly, lowering expected and actual…

Correct answer: reduce inflation with little or no increase in unemployment
  • A. Shifts the short-run Phillips curve downward and make the unemployment inflation trade-off less favorable
  • B. Shifts the short run Phillips curve upward and makes the unemployment inflation trade-off more favorable
  • C. Shifts the short run Phillips curve upward and makes the Unemployment inflation trade off more favorable
  • D. Shifts the short run Phillips curve downward and makes the unemployment inflation trade off more favorable

Explanation: Cheaper foreign oil lowers firms’ production costs, reducing inflation at each unemployment rate and shifting the short-run Phillips curve…

Correct answer: Shifts the short run Phillips curve downward and makes the unemployment inflation trade off more favorable
  • A. An increase in the minimum wage
  • B. An increase in the expected inflation
  • C. An increase in the price of foreign oil
  • D. An increase in the aggregate demand

Explanation: A higher minimum wage can raise structural unemployment, increasing the natural rate and shifting the vertical long-run Phillips curve to…

Correct answer: An increase in the minimum wage
  • A. The economy will experience an increase in inflation
  • B. The economy will experience a decrease in inflation
  • C. Inflation will be unaffected if price expectations are unchanging
  • D. None of these answers

Explanation: In the short run, expansionary policy raises aggregate demand, increasing output and inflation while reducing unemployment.

Correct answer: The economy will experience an increase in inflation