Free Public Finance MCQs with Answers

406 Public Finance MCQs from Economics, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

Government revenue and expenditure are analysed through taxation, public borrowing, budgets, subsidies, transfers and public debt. The topic explains how fiscal policy affects resource allocation, income distribution, economic stability and growth, while distinguishing direct from indirect taxes, progressive from regressive taxation, and public goods from goods supplied by private markets.

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406 questions · page 11 of 21

  • A. reserved
  • B. delegated
  • C. confederate
  • D. legislative

Explanation: Reserved powers are powers retained by the states under the federal arrangement.

Correct answer: reserved
  • A. signed documents
  • B. instruments for limiting governmental power
  • C. possible only in industrial societies
  • D. characteristic of democracies only

Explanation: A constitution establishes and limits governmental authority by defining powers, procedures, and citizens' rights.

Correct answer: instruments for limiting governmental power
  • A. rule of law
  • B. rule of men
  • C. rule of public authority
  • D. rule of the majority

Explanation: Autocratic regimes place authority in the personal will of rulers rather than in generally applicable laws, which is described as the rule…

Correct answer: rule of men
  • A. was imitated by the framers of the constitution from Roman forms of government
  • B. provides for an absolute separation of three branches of government
  • C. is prescribed by the Constitution
  • D. was a notion the framers had to abandon

Explanation: The Constitution establishes separate legislative, executive, and judicial functions, although the separation is not absolute because the…

Correct answer: is prescribed by the Constitution
  • A. give more power to the government
  • B. restrict the power of the government
  • C. weaken the government
  • D. make revolution impossible

Explanation: The Bill of Rights protects individual liberties by placing constitutional limits on government action.

Correct answer: restrict the power of the government
  • A. the caretaker role
  • B. strict adherence to the written Constitution
  • C. dynamic political leadership
  • D. the teflon principle

Explanation: Presidents are often evaluated favorably for dynamic political leadership, such as setting a policy agenda and mobilising public support…

Correct answer: dynamic political leadership
  • A. Presidential supremacy
  • B. Federalism
  • C. Separation of powers
  • D. Checks and balances

Explanation: Presidential supremacy is not a constitutional restraint on the U.S. government.

Correct answer: Presidential supremacy
  • A. confederacy
  • B. federalism
  • C. centralism
  • D. Unitarianism

Explanation: Federalism divides constitutional authority between a national government and regional governments such as states or provinces.

Correct answer: federalism
  • A. preaches hatred of the state
  • B. demands total nationalization of the economy
  • C. stresses class struggle
  • D. seeks to provide essential services to all

Explanation: Democratic socialism generally supports political democracy alongside public provision or regulation of basic necessities such as health…

Correct answer: seeks to provide essential services to all
  • A. people must obey the rulers at all times
  • B. the rulers govern at the direction of God
  • C. the people allow themselves to be governed for their own good
  • D. a society cannot exist without authoritarian rulers

Explanation: Locke and Rousseau treated government as deriving its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, with authority justified by the…

Correct answer: the people allow themselves to be governed for their own good
  • A. in Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler
  • B. in Italy under the leadership of Benito Mussolini
  • C. in Argentina under Juan Peron
  • D. In South Africa under apartheid

Explanation: Fascism first developed as an organised political movement in post-World War I Italy under Benito Mussolini.

Correct answer: in Italy under the leadership of Benito Mussolini
  • A. control the individual socially and politically
  • B. control only political life
  • C. leave individuals human and civil rights intact
  • D. deal only with economic and foreign policy matters

Explanation: Totalitarianism seeks comprehensive control over both public political life and private social life.

Correct answer: control the individual socially and politically
  • A. partial
  • B. comprehensive
  • C. abstract
  • D. all of the above

Explanation: Ideologies can be partial or comprehensive, and they may range from concrete programmes to abstract systems of ideas.

Correct answer: all of the above
  • A. a body of doctrines beliefs and symbols
  • B. ideas that have been in existence for centuries
  • C. a set of complex algebraic expressions
  • D. ideas derived exclusively from ancient Greece

Explanation: An ideology normally combines doctrines, beliefs and symbols that explain society and prescribe desired political or social arrangements.

Correct answer: a body of doctrines beliefs and symbols
  • A. matters of rule selection and principles of rule
  • B. parties
  • C. economics
  • D. none of the above

Explanation: Political ideology addresses who should rule, how rulers should be selected and the principles that should guide government.

Correct answer: matters of rule selection and principles of rule
  • A. deviant acts serve the individual,s purpose
  • B. deviant acts are escape valves for anxiety
  • C. deviance may contribute to group cohesion
  • D. successful deviants become stronger people

Explanation: Sociologists use the functions of deviance idea to show that rule-breaking can clarify group boundaries and strengthen cohesion by…

Correct answer: deviance may contribute to group cohesion
  • A. psychologists prefer the term "abnormality"
  • B. moralists prefer the term "immorality"
  • C. the definition of social norms varies by culture and subculture
  • D. no two people agree what deviance is

Explanation: Deviance is relative because conduct judged unacceptable in one culture or subculture may be accepted in another.

Correct answer: the definition of social norms varies by culture and subculture
  • A. Resocialization
  • B. Ethnocentrism
  • C. Self-fulfilling prophecy
  • D. Rebellion

Explanation: Labeling theory links deviance to a self-fulfilling prophecy: after receiving a deviant label, a person may internalise it and behave…

Correct answer: Self-fulfilling prophecy
  • A. poor
  • B. black
  • C. Catholic
  • D. urban

Explanation: Urban residents have more opportunities to encounter and join voluntary associations through workplaces, clubs, and civic networks.

Correct answer: urban
  • A. formal organizations are the same as institution
  • B. formal organizations are based on groups of people
  • C. institutions are groups of people
  • D. institutions are voluntary

Explanation: A formal organization is a deliberately structured group of people with defined roles and rules.

Correct answer: formal organizations are based on groups of people