Free Microeconomics MCQs with Answers

1,742 Microeconomics MCQs from Economics, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

Individual consumers, firms and markets are examined through demand and supply, elasticity, consumer choice, production, costs, revenue and the determination of prices and output. The topic also covers market structures such as perfect competition, monopoly and oligopoly, plus market failure, externalities and the distinction between microeconomic decisions and economy-wide outcomes.

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1,742 questions · page 21 of 88

  • A. instincts
  • B. genes
  • C. drives
  • D. none of these

Explanation: Agents of socialization are people and institutions such as family, school, peers, religion and the media.

Correct answer: none of these
  • A. child taught to read
  • B. child absorbing parents' attitudes toward race
  • C. correcting child's use of worlds
  • D. child taught to use knife and fork

Explanation: Unconscious socialization happens indirectly, without deliberate instruction, as children absorb parents' attitudes and assumptions.

Correct answer: child absorbing parents' attitudes toward race
  • A. permit researchers to generalize from samples
  • B. convey information about central tendency
  • C. allow researchers to test hypotheses
  • D. convey information about atypical behavior

Explanation: Descriptive statistics summarize observed data, commonly through measures of central tendency such as the mean, median and mode.

Correct answer: convey information about central tendency
  • A. children
  • B. adults
  • C. persons of all ages
  • D. infants

Explanation: Socialization is a lifelong process: children learn basic norms, while adults continue adapting to new roles, institutions and social…

Correct answer: persons of all ages
  • A. awareness of self
  • B. walking
  • C. speaking
  • D. crying

Explanation: Awareness of self is the infant’s first step toward socialization because it enables the child to distinguish the self from others.

Correct answer: awareness of self
  • A. interplay between environment and learned behavior
  • B. a result of biology alone
  • C. role demands
  • D. more a function of heredity than anything else

Explanation: Personality develops through the interaction of biological tendencies, environmental influences, and learned behaviour.

Correct answer: interplay between environment and learned behavior
  • A. behavioral traits of a person
  • B. emotions of a person
  • C. attitudes of a person
  • D. all of the above

Explanation: Personality is the overall pattern of a person’s traits, attitudes, emotions, and behaviour.

Correct answer: all of the above
  • A. socialization
  • B. the development of instincts
  • C. physical development
  • D. learning to be responsible

Explanation: Maturation refers primarily to the natural physical and biological development of the human organism.

Correct answer: physical development
  • A. instincts
  • B. socialization
  • C. cosmic influences
  • D. in our society watching television

Explanation: Socialization teaches an individual the language, norms, values, and behaviour needed to function as a human member of society.

Correct answer: socialization
  • A. the subconscious mind
  • B. an individual's self-concept or self-awareness
  • C. a person's conscience
  • D. the equivalent of the libido in Freuds theory

Explanation: For George Herbert Mead, the self is formed socially and refers to a person’s developing self-concept and self-awareness.

Correct answer: an individual's self-concept or self-awareness
  • A. Personality development acts independently of physical development
  • B. Personality development proceeds in stages related to sensorimotor maturation
  • C. Behavior is the product of genetic predispositions
  • D. The most important influence on personality development is social class

Explanation: Piaget explained development as a sequence of stages linked to cognitive and sensorimotor maturation.

Correct answer: Personality development proceeds in stages related to sensorimotor maturation
  • A. Lookingglass self
  • B. symbolic interactionism
  • C. behaviorism
  • D. developmental theory

Explanation: The looking-glass self, symbolic interactionism, and developmental approaches emphasize the self emerging through interaction with others.

Correct answer: behaviorism
  • A. the family
  • B. the peer groups
  • C. church
  • D. occupational groups or organizations

Explanation: Specialized socialization prepares people for specific occupational roles, so it occurs most frequently in workplaces and occupational…

Correct answer: occupational groups or organizations
  • A. an aggregate
  • B. a group
  • C. a category
  • D. all of the above

Explanation: Humanity is a category because it classifies all human beings by a shared characteristic, without requiring them to interact as a group.

Correct answer: a category
  • A. role strain
  • B. ascribed statuses
  • C. master statuses
  • D. role conflict

Explanation: Gender and ethnic identity are commonly treated ascribed statuses because they are assigned at birth or involuntarily acquired.

Correct answer: ascribed statuses
  • A. the attainment of recognized excellence
  • B. a dominant position in a relationship
  • C. the most widely recognized among several positions
  • D. the position from which all other positions are derived

Explanation: A master status is the identity or social position that is most prominent in how a person is recognized, often overshadowing other roles.

Correct answer: the most widely recognized among several positions
  • A. doing things in an institutionalized way
  • B. working jointly in a common enterprise for a shared goal
  • C. doing something in return for what someone has done for you
  • D. all of the above

Explanation: Reciprocity means returning a benefit, favour, or action received from another person.

Correct answer: doing something in return for what someone has done for you
  • A. the downfall of industrialized societies
  • B. one of the great contributions of democracy
  • C. a major obstacle to establishing social order
  • D. none of the above

Explanation: Democracy allows competing opinions to be expressed peacefully, so tolerance of conflicting ideas is regarded as one of its major…

Correct answer: one of the great contributions of democracy
  • A. individuals differ in temperament goals and desires
  • B. the world is based on randomness
  • C. humans are solitary creatures
  • D. human behavior is unpredictable

Explanation: A group way of life can produce disorder because human behaviour is not completely predictable, making coordinated action and stable…

Correct answer: human behavior is unpredictable
  • A. task specialization governed by explicit rule
  • B. a pyramid of authority based on inherited privilege
  • C. leadership by a self-appointed
  • D. None of the above

Explanation: Weber’s ideal bureaucracy is organized through specialized duties, a hierarchy, and explicit impersonal rules.

Correct answer: task specialization governed by explicit rule