Chapter One Practice Questions
- 1. A recession is a protracted period of decline in the national economy, typically defined as:
- A. More than two quarters of decreasing GDP
- B. More than two quarters of decline in the housing market
- C. More than two quarters of shrinking M1
- D. More than two quarters of a falling PPI
- 2. The Federal Reserve would like to stimulate the economy. Which of the following actions would do so?
- A. Buy Treasuries
- B. Raise the discount rate
- C. Raise the bank reserve requirements
- D. Raise the margin requirements
- 3. All of the following are tools that the Federal Reserve uses to implement monetary policy except:
- A. Open market operations
- B. Discount window lending
- C. Altering bank reserve requirements
- D. Altering the value of the dollar
- 4. Which of the following might cause the Federal Reserve to take action to stimulate the economy?
- A. A rise in the CPI
- B. A rise in the PPI
- C. A drop in housing starts
- D. A drop in unemployment
- 5. Which of the following may lead the Fed to loosen the money supply?
- A. A rise in commodity prices
- B. A drop in the strength of the dollar
- C. A decline in GDP
- D. MI has risen sharply
- 6. All of the following might lead to the tightening of the money supply except:
- A. A rise in the CPI
- B. A rise in non-farm payroll in a fully-employed economy
- C. A widening in credit spreads
- D. A rise in the trade deficit
- 7. A situation in which short-term securities pay higher yields than long-term securities is considered a(n) ___ yield curve.
- A. Normal
- B. Inverted
- C. Flat
- D. Barbell
- 8. All of the following are true of yield spreads except:
- A. Spreads widen during recessionary periods.
- B. Spreads narrow during periods of economic prosperity.
- C. Compression of bond yields in general usually means that th