Quiz: A Treatise on Political Economy

15 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. On what main ground does Say reject Sismondi’s proposal that employers be obliged to maintain their labourers? It would violate property and liberty; low wages also benefit consumers Labourers would refuse to work for masters who controlled their private lives The existing poor laws and hospitals already provided enough relief for labourers It would make French manufactures too dear to compete in foreign markets
2. Why does Say deny that money is a measure of value? Governments fix its value arbitrarily by law and alter it at will Only labour can measure value Money is only a sign of value Nothing has an invariable value, which a true measure requires
3. Which error does Say attribute to Adam Smith in the Introduction? Treating gold and silver as the whole of a nation’s wealth and capital Denying that the division of labour raises the productivity of work Defending the mercantile system of trade restrictions Ascribing the power of producing values to human labour alone
4. What happened to marriages in Prussia after the plague of 1710, according to Süssmilch’s tables as cited by Say? They doubled They fell by a third They ceased almost entirely for several years They stayed exactly the same
5. What does Say object to in the roads leading out of Paris? They are paid for by tolls on peasants They are far wider than needed, wasting land and upkeep They were built by foreign contractors They are too narrow for commercial traffic
6. According to Say, what happened when Turgot ruled that doubtful points of fiscal law should be settled in the taxpayer’s favour? The receipts actually increased The Parlement annulled the rule The revenue fell by half The tax-farmers went bankrupt
7. What does Say say about the popular notion that saving injures consumption? It is false: saved value is reinvested and so still consumed It is true, and therefore luxury and public spending should be encouraged It is true only of saving by the poor, who hoard their small sums in coin It is true only when the saved money is lent to the government at interest
8. Why, according to Say, is Poland poor despite exporting much wheat? She confines her industry to agriculture Holland refuses to buy her grain at a fair price Her soil is too poor for cultivation Her government taxes exports too heavily
9. Why, according to Say, does land in the Sologne pay a very low rent? It is mostly owned by the Church, which leases it at nominal rents Without roads or water-carriage its produce is costly to market Heavy taxes and tithes absorb nearly the whole of its gross produce Its sandy soil is too poor to yield any crop worth the cost of tillage
10. What example does Say give of injudicious consumption in villages? Buying lace for church vestments instead of seed-corn for the poor Building a large new church while the parish roads went unrepaired Holding lotteries every season to pay the village schoolmaster’s salary Spending on a one-day festival what would build a fountain
11. Why, in Say’s example, should a bank of circulation not lend its notes on mortgage to a landholder? The law forbids banks of circulation to hold or foreclose on land A mortgage cannot be turned into specie when notes are presented Landholders are poor credit risks who seldom repay their loans on time Mortgage loans pay too little interest to cover the cost of issuing notes
12. Why does Say think mathematics cannot give greater precision to political economy? Mathematics applies only to the physical sciences, never to the conduct of men in society Values depend on human wants and cannot be rigorously measured Governments keep the economic data needed for calculation secret from the public Prices are fixed by custom and law, so there is nothing for calculation to discover
13. According to Say, why did the tenfold increase in silver after the discovery of America lower its value only to about a quarter? Governments hoarded most of the new silver in their treasuries and war-chests for generations Most of the new silver was lost at sea before reaching Europe Growing commerce, manufactures and luxury raised the demand for the metals at the same time Spain kept almost all the American silver at home, so that little of it ever reached the rest of Europe
14. What does Say conclude from comparing a 10 per cent tax on incomes of 60,000 and 60 dollars? That taxation cannot be equitable unless its ratio is progressive That the poor should be exempt from all indirect taxes That a proportional tax is the only just tax That income taxes should be replaced by a land tax
15. Which disadvantage of the division of labour does Say stress? It degrades the faculties of the individual worker It reduces the total product of society’s labour over time It raises the price of manufactured goods for the consumer It is impossible in large cities

0 of 15 answered