Question : 51) The De Beers Company blocked competition A) in the diamond : 1387863

51) The De Beers Company blocked competition

A) in the diamond market by controlling the output of most of the world’s diamond mines.

B) by controlling the supply of most of the world’s high-quality bauxite, the mineral used to produce aluminum.

C) in the market for fresh and frozen cranberries because it controls about 80 percent of the cranberry crop.

D) because it has lower costs of producing than other department stores due to economies of scale.

52) Of all barriers to entry, the most important are those that are due to

A) ownership of a key input.

B) economies of scale.

C) government-imposed barriers.

D) the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index.

53) Which industry has the highest four-firm concentration ratio?

A) discount department stores

B) college bookstores

C) retail gasoline stations

D) cigarettes

54) Which government agency publishes four-firm concentration ratios?

A) the Economic Council

B) the Federal Reserve System

C) the U.S. Bureau of the Census

D) the Treasury Department

55) The profit-maximizing level of output and the profit-maximizing price for an oligopolist cannot be calculated when we don’t know

A) what the concentration ratio for the oligopolist’s industry is.

B) what the minimum efficient scale in the oligopolist’s industry is.

C) the demand curve and the marginal revenue curve of the oligopolist.

D) the type of barrier to entry that exists in the oligopolist’s industry.

56) Because of the shortcomings of concentration ratios, some economists prefer another measure of competition called

A) the Competition Index.

B) the Marginal Revenue-Marginal Cost Index.

C) the Economic Profit Index.

D) the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index.

57) Ocean Spray is considered to be an oligopoly firm because, until the 1990s, it faced little competition in the market for fresh and frozen cranberries. Why?

A) Ocean Spray had a patent on the production of cranberries that gave the company the exclusive right to market its product for 20 years. The 20-year period ended in the 1990s.

B) Until the 1990s, Ocean Spray controlled almost the entire supply of cranberries.

C) Ocean Spray was able to achieve significant economies of scale in the production of cranberries. Beginning in the 1990s, other firms finally achieved economies of scale as well, but Ocean Spray still controls about 80 percent of the cranberry market.

D) The federal government imposed a high tariff on cranberry imports. During the 1990s the tariff was eliminated, but Ocean Spray still controls about 80 percent of the cranberry market.

58) The people firms hire to attempt to convince state legislators and members of Congress to pass laws that are favorable to the economic interests of the firms are called

A) economic advisors.

B) legislative assistants.

C) government bureaucrats.

D) lobbyists.

59) Doctors and lawyers in every state need a license to practice. This is an example of

A) consumer protection laws.

B) consumer advocacy.

C) occupational licensing.

D) ownership of a key input.

60) The justification for occupational licensing laws is that they protect the public from incompetent practitioners (for example, lawyers and medical doctors), but the laws also result in

A) higher prices and restrictions on the number of people who can enter the professions affected by the laws.

B) economies of scale.

C) ownership of a key input.

D) an increase in the amount of output required to achieve minimum efficient scale.