BCOR 1015 Final Questions and
Answers Graded A
What are Hayeks views on planning and decision making? ✔✔he believes in decentralized
knowledge
HAYEK: what is decentralized knowledge? ✔✔spreading knowledge amongst peo
...
BCOR 1015 Final Questions and
Answers Graded A
What are Hayeks views on planning and decision making? ✔✔he believes in decentralized
knowledge
HAYEK: what is decentralized knowledge? ✔✔spreading knowledge amongst people
is Hayek against centralization? ✔✔yes
HAYEK: how does the price system coordinate resources? ✔✔price signals are used to make
decisions and send information to other groups because prices are lower or higher
what are price signals? ✔✔signals wrapped up in incentives; prices can constantly adapt and
update in response to new information
HAYEK: what is arbitrage? ✔✔benefitting from peoples ignorance; buying something cheap at a
flea market then re-selling at a higher price
Does Hayek argue that arbitrage is moral or immoral? ✔✔arbitrage is moral if its helping
allocate resources
What article did Cohen write? ✔✔Why not socialism
COHEN: what is the bourgeois equality of opportunity ✔✔removal of socially constructed status
restrictions
COHEN: what is the leftest liberal equality of opportunity ✔✔removal of the disadvantages of
circumstances, even if not socially constructed (but leaves differences in opportunity related to
"naive or inborn traits")
COHEN:what is the socialist equality of opportunity ✔✔corrects for all unchosen disadvantages,
that is, for which the agent cannot be held responsible, whether they be disadvantages
What were the three inequalities Cohen thought existed? ✔✔1. Laws (formal) 2. Unchosen
Social Disadvantages (informal) 3. Raw Talent
Because of these 3 things, he wanted to diminish the equality of opportunity
COHEN: what is the relationship between equality and community? ✔✔According to cohen
reducing inequality involves both equalizing and also a redistribution policy
Is Cohen a socialist? ✔✔yes
FRIEDMAN: is income equality or inequality fair? ✔✔he thinks inequality should be allowed
due to practical and moral reasons
COHEN: what did he believe in, in regards to redistribution? ✔✔Believed in redistribution
through a flat tax rate - equality
People w/ higher incomes get taxed more than poor people and that is UNFAIR
COHEN: if people are willing or prefer to work harder jobs, they should or should not be paid
more? ✔✔SHOULD
How does Friedman conceptualize capitalism? ✔✔believes strongly in free-market capitalism
How does Friedman think about redistribution, freedom, ethics, and market efficiency?
✔✔Economic freedom means not only the right of individuals to act freely in the market, but for
markets themselves to be free of government regulation
What is the tragedy of the commons? ✔✔overpopulation= overuse of resources
What does Smith argue in regards to the pursuit of self interests? ✔✔Virtue Theory: although we
all have self-interest, we still have empathy and capitalists will achieve civic duty/benevolence.
People acting in Self-interest → increased market Productivity
what does Hardin argue in regards to the pursuit of self interests? ✔✔the pursuit of self-interest
in an open-access commons leads to ruin.
Without controls on access and use of the underlying resource, the tragedy of the commons is
inevitable
What is the tradeoff between efficiency and equality? ✔✔Makes sure people don't infringe on
others rights- social welfare approach for positive human rights
Maximum efficiency leads to low equality. Maximum equality leads to low efficiency
what is an externality? ✔✔a direct, unintended and uncompensated effect on a third party by an
individual
what is a positive externality? ✔✔an externality that creates social benefits reaped by others
what is a negative externality ✔✔impose an additional cost on society that is not explicitly
recognized by the buyers & sellers in the market (ex. Smoking)
what is the Coase Theorem? ✔✔Doesn't matter who has property rights, you can reach optimal
outcome if you allow bargaining w/ externalities
Always reaches optimal outcome(coasean bargaining)
What are private property rights? ✔✔well defined, monitored, enforced, transferrable
commons goods are... ✔✔rival and not excludable
public goods are... ✔✔not rival and not excludable
private goods are... ✔✔rival and excludable
Club goods are... ✔✔non-rival and excludable
Was Smith a capitalist? ✔✔yes
What are the benefits of division of labor and why was it so important? ✔✔In favor of this
because you can specialize in your best product/skill
the specialization of the labor force- the breaking down of large jobs into many tiny components.
Under this regime each worker becomes an expert in one area of production, increasing their
efficiency.
What is an example of division of labor ✔✔assembly line
What is the example of the pin-factory all about? ✔✔Pin maker; man is not familiar w/ process,
has to make every piece of the pin himself, takes him all day to make one pin, def could not
make even 20 pins. Not specialized
what is the invisible hand ✔✔The idea that people pursuing their own self-interest actually
benefit the public at large
what is Adam smith saying about foreign trade ✔✔It is in our own self-interest as individuals to
buy whatever we want from those who sell it cheapest
What doe Marx and Engles say has characterized the history of society? ✔✔the history of class
struggles
MARX + ENGLES: what do they mean by bourgeois and Proletariat? ✔✔bourgeoisie is meant
the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage
labour.
proletariat, the class of modern wage labourers who, having no means of production of their
own, are reduced to selling their labour power in order to live
How do Marx and Engels characterize the evolution of the bourgeoisie over time? ✔✔The
bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed
down from the Middle Ages
what is the theory of the communists? ✔✔abolition of private property, free trade
what is the distinguishing feature of communism? ✔✔the abolition of the bourgeois property
I,PENCIL:What points is the author making with the example of creating a useful and common
item that costs almost nothing to consumers? ✔✔The absence of a mastermind, of anyone
directing these countless actions to make the pencil. No trace of such a person can be found.
Instead, we find the invisible hand at work. Without trade a pencil would cost a lot more
What is socialism? ✔✔the factors of production are owned by the public and operate for the
welfare of all (left)
What is capitalism? ✔✔factors of production are privately owned and money is invested in
business to make a profit (right)
What is a tame problem? ✔✔a definite solution and an absolute fix
What is a wicked problem? ✔✔determined by our bias, no absolute solution
VANCE: What is just price? ✔✔any price agreed upon between a willing buyer and seller
where does just price originate? what author? ✔✔Thomas Aquinas
Thomas aquinas and Vance are... ✔✔opposite. Aquinas is socialist and Vance is capitalist
what are examples of government intervention in pricing ✔✔price ceiling, floor and minimum
wage.
What is usury? (payday lending) ✔✔the illegal action or practice of lending money at
unreasonably high rates of interest.
what is creative destruction ✔✔the destruction of one industry when another comes into power
what is the paradox of progress ✔✔Technological advances have not led to perceptible
improvement in collective health and happiness
what is disruptive innovation ✔✔revolutionizing but destroying companies, industries and jobs
What is the innovator's dilemma? ✔✔do you stay with old (safe) or do you build off your
original idea and earn new profits and make some people worse off
What are patents? ✔✔has to be original, intangible property. Technological inventions→ novelty
(17-20 years) non-obvious and Novel words (STRONGEST IP PROTECTION IN US LEGAL
SYSTEM)
What are copyrights? ✔✔intangible, creations in the fields of literature and the arts→ originality.
Most powerful judicial recourse & remedies in cases of infringement(70 years after death of
author) Libraries and researchers are excepted from all copyright restrictions
What are trademarks? ✔✔lasts until company is out of business. Features that distinguish one
product or service from another - distinctiveness
what are trade secrets ✔✔Information not generally known or reasonably ascertainable by others
(least protected),don't always want to patent
What is intellectual property? ✔✔a work or invention that is the result of creativity, to which one
has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, trademark, etc.
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