All AP Macroeconomics Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Production Possibility Diagrams
Which of the following best describes the typical shape of a Production Possibility Frontier?
The Production Possibility Frontier is bowed outward with respect to the origin.
The Production Possibility Frontier is bowed inward with respect to the origin.
The Production Possibility Frontier is always linear and horizontal.
The Production Possibility Frontier is always linear and increasing.
The Production Possibility Frontier is bowed outward with respect to the origin.
The Production Possiblity Frontier is typically bowed outward with respect to the origin, reflecting the law of increasing opportunity costs, which states that as production of a particular good or service increases, costs associated with producing that good or service increase too.
The correct answer, therefore, is "The Production Possibility Frontier is bowed outward with respect to the origin." The other answer choices are incorrect because they do not accurately account for the law of increasing opportunity costs.
Example Question #1 : Production Possibility Diagrams
Which of the following explain why a production possibilities frontier would be bowed outward?
Increasing and then decreasing opportunity costs of producing more goods
Increasing opportunity costs of producing more goods
Constant opportunity costs of producing more goods
None of the other answers
Decreasing opportunity costs of producing more goods
Increasing opportunity costs of producing more goods
The bowed-outward shape of the PPF represents increasing opportunity costs of production because it indicates that it is becoming more and more costly to produce the good on the x-axis. This higher cost is represented by the increasingly steep slope of the PPF. The slope of the PPF corresponds to the costs of producing an extra unit of X. The steeper the slope, the steeper the cost.
Example Question #2 : Production Possibility Diagrams
Which of the following best explains why a production possibilities frontier would have increasing opportunity costs as we move along its length?
It is generally more costly for a country to produce capital goods witha fixed number of resources
None of the other answers
It is generally more costly for a country to produce consumer goods with a fixed number of resources
Moving along the production possibilities frontier requires an increase in the resources available to a country
The resources/factors of production become less and less suitable for the new production mix
The resources/factors of production become less and less suitable for the new production mix
The increasing opportunity costs as you move along a PPF are a result of the resources that are more specialized in the production of one good being used to produce the other good. These resources become less and less productive leading to higher costs. If the two goods are cars and burgers, the more burgers you start to make, the more car mechanics you have to start using to make these burgers (since your resources are fixed). The less productive car mechanics (that is, in the production of burgers) will lead to higher production costs. This is due to the fact that they will earn the same hourly wage as the burger specialists, but produce fewer burgers per hour. The cost of burger production progressively goes up.
Example Question #2 : How To Find Production Possibility Diagrams
Use the following diagram to answer the question below
Which of the following points represents the best production outcome for an economy looking for long-term, sustainable growth?
There is insufficient information to answer the question
Both and would be equally suitable as they represent points of productive efficiency for the economy
would be the most appropriate point since it has a higher quantity of capital goods than point . Capital goods have a greater impact on the long term growth of an economy.
Example Question #3 : Production Possibility Diagrams
Use the diagram below to answer the question below:
Which of the following best explains a move from point to point ?
A move from an inefficient point of production to a more efficient point of production
A move from a point on the PPF with higher unemployment to a point on the PPF with lower unemployment
Moving from one productively efficient point on the PPF to another productively efficient point on the PPF
A move from a point of higher concentration of capital goods to one of higher concentration of consumer goods, involving a greater use of labour as a primary resource of production
None of the other answers
Moving from one productively efficient point on the PPF to another productively efficient point on the PPF
Both point and are along the PPF, so they are both productively efficient. For this reason, they represent identical unemployment rates. Additionally there is nothing to convince us that labour is necessarily the primary resource in the production of consumer goods in this economy.
Example Question #2 : Production Possibility Diagrams
Use the following diagram to answer the questions below:
If the lower diagram represents the marginal costs and marginal benefits of the consumer good to society, which of the following answers correctly represents the characteristics of the points on the production possibilities frontier?
Point is neither productively efficient nor allocatively efficient
Point is a point of allocative efficiency and productive efficiency
Point is allocatively efficient but productively inefficient
Point is a productively efficient point but allocatively inefficient point
Point is an allocatively inefficient point but productively efficient point of production
Point is a point of allocative efficiency and productive efficiency
At point , there is allocative efficiency because at this point the society is producing the right mix of goods (supply (marginal cost) of the consumer good matches its demand (marginal benefit])). Point is on the PPF and as such is also productively efficient since all resources are being used for production at all points on the PPF.
Example Question #3 : How To Find Production Possibility Diagrams
Use the diagram below to answer the following question
Which of the following is true about the points in the diagram?
Unemployment at point is both cyclical and frictional
The unemployment at Point is equal to the natural unemployment rate
Point and point both exhibit cyclical forms of unemployment
Unemployment at point consists of both frictional and structural forms of employment
There is no unemployment at point
Unemployment at point consists of both frictional and structural forms of employment
On the PPF, the unemployment rate is equal to the natural rate of unemployment which consists of frictional unemployment and structural employment but excludes cyclical unemployment.
Example Question #4 : How To Find Production Possibility Diagrams
Use the following graph to answer the questions below:
Which of the following best explains what caused the movement from PPF1 to PPF2?
An increase in the portion of the population joining the military
An increase in the size of the labour force
A change in land use from residential use to industrial use
A change in societal preferences towards consumer goods rather than capital goods
An reduction in cyclical unemployment in the society
An increase in the size of the labour force
The move from PPF1 to PPF2 represents an increase in the productive potential(possibilities) of the economy. This can be effected by an increase in the productive resources in the economy, which would be represented by an increase in the labour force.
Example Question #5 : How To Find Production Possibility Diagrams
Use the diagram below to answer the following question:
Which of the following best explains the production possibilities diagram shown?
A shift in preferences of the society away from capital goods and towards consumer goods
None of the other answers
A technological improvement that makes it cheaper to produce consumer goods
An economic boom
An increase in the size of the labor force
A technological improvement that makes it cheaper to produce consumer goods
The diagram shows an increase in the potential productive capacity of the consumer good production without a corresponding increase in the productive capacity of capital good production. The best answer then is that whatever change happened affected only the capacity to produce consumer goods. Labour force increases would increase the capacity to produce both goods, and so would an economic boom.
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