What S the Economy For, Anyway
ANXIETY IN AMERICA: (NO CREDIT) QUIZ AND DISCUSSION TOOL
Objectives: This project allows students, with the use of a no-credit class quiz and follow-up discussion, to both test their initial knowledge about aspects of our economy and also to express their opinions and emotions about the data that is revealed in the process. This is an excellent introductory activity before engaging other materials related to the “What’s the Economy For, Anyway?” project. It will work very well in a small classroom, but can also work in a lecture hall if students work in pairs. For faculty who plan to assign research projects, this exercise can help inspire topic ideas.
Directions:
1. Divide students into groups of 2 to 4 so that they will discuss and think about the issues as they complete the quiz.
2. Administer the quiz to the groups. Each student in each group should receive a copy. Allow students a minute or two to discuss the questions and possible answers in their group before answering individually on their own handouts. (Group members need not agree on the answers.)
3. Immediately following the quiz, review student answers via class discussion. Reveal the correct answers and continue discussion.
4. After the quiz is completed, reviewed, and discussed, the students can be asked to reassemble in their groups and discuss the follow-up question, "Is the U.S. number one? What does that mean? In what ways are we number one?" It might be productive to have the students write answers out in order to be better organized. These answers can be the basis for further class discussion.
The Quiz:
*This quiz is a template that can be updated or otherwise modified as needed. The answer key and additional discussion material follow the quiz.
1. Essential spending includes things like housing, groceries, and healthcare. Discretionary spending is money spent beyond the essential spending for things like electronics, lattes, dining out, entertainment, $200 shoes, etc. Which of the following do you think has or had more discretionary spending money as a percentage of their budgets?
a. Today’s middle class
b. The middle class of the early 1970s
2. What percent of an average household income was devoted to essential spending (housing, groceries, health care, etc.) in 1973?
a. 75%
b. 60%
c. 50%
d. 40%
e. 25%
3. What percent of an average household income is devoted to essential spending (housing, groceries, health care, etc.) now?
a. 75%
b. 60%
c. 50%
d. 40%
e. 25%
4. On average, nationwide, housing costs from 2000 to 2006 increased 32 percent. How do you think average household incomes did during the same period (controlling for inflation)?
a. Household incomes increased by 15.3%.
b. Household incomes increased by 10.7%.
c. Household incomes increased by 3.3%.
d. Household incomes remained stagnant.
e. Household incomes decreased by 2.8%.
5. What percent of Americans do not have the equivalent of one month’s budget in savings to cover an emergency?
a. 50 percent
b. 40 percent
c. 30 percent
d. 20 percent
6. The official poverty rate actually dropped from 12.6 percent in 2005 to 12.3 percent in 2006. What was the principal cause for this drop?
a. More members of American households worked.
b. Wages for women increased.
c. Wages for men increased.
d. A tight labor force raised wages for the lowest wage earners.
7. What is the total number of days off, combining holidays and vacation days, that German workers must receive, according to German federal law?
a. 34
b. 24
c. 14
d. 7
e. 0
8. What is the total number of days off, combining holidays and vacation days, that U.S. workers must receive, according to U.S. federal law?
a. 34
b. 24
c. 14
d. 7
e. 0
9. What percent of private sector workers in the United States do not receive paid sick time?
a. 14%
b. 18%
c. 30%
d. 39%
e. 48%
10. Switzerland ranks first in the world for number of kilometers traveled by rail by passengers on a per capita basis. Germany, which has more cars per capita than the United States, ranks number 10. Where do you think the United States ranks?
a. 8th
b. 18th
c. 31st
d. 73rd
11. "Ecological footprint" is a name given to a tool for measuring how much land and water area is used by individuals or a population in its production (anywhere in the world) of the goods it uses and consumes and for the wastes it produces. Europeans use an average of 4.8 hectares per person. How much does the average American use up?
a. 2.4 hectares
b. 3.6 hectares
c. 4.8 hectares
d. 7.1 hectares
e. 9.6 hectares
12. In the United States, an average of 6.8 babies out of every 1,000 die before their first birthdays (2004 data). Our infant mortality rate is thus 6.8 per 1,000. Which of the below countries has a lower infant mortality rate than the United States?
a. Canada
b. The Czech Republic
c. South Korea
d. Iceland
e. All of the above
13. Where do the United States and Cuba rank, respectively, among countries of the world in life expectancy? (1 = longest life expectancy)
a. U.S. 1, Cuba 52
b. U.S. 6, Cuba 52
c. U.S. 18, Cuba 19
d. U.S. 40, Cuba 36
14. What percentage of Americans did not have health insurance when surveyed in 2006?
a. 22.1 percent
b. 15.8 percent
c. 11.5 percent
d. 7.6 percent
15. What percentage of Americans, polled in February 2007, said that they would be willing to pay $500 a year more in taxes so that all Americans would have health insurance that they could not lose?
a. 22%
b. 31%
c. 54%
d. 82%
ANSWER KEY:
1: B According to bankruptcy law expert, author, and Harvard University Professor Elizabeth Warren, the middle class of the early 1970s had almost twice as much spending power for discretionary items than today's middle class.[1]
2: C[2]
3: A[3]
4: E[4]
5: B[5]
6: A More went to work, leaving fewer household members at home to take care of children or manage other family matters. Wages, individually, for both men and women actually dropped slightly overall.[6]
7: A German law requires 24 paid vacation days and 10 paid holidays, or 34 days combined.[7]
8: E The United States is the only “advanced economy” state that does not mandate vacation days for workers. Of American workers who do receive paid vacations and holidays, they average 12 days off. Ten percent of full-time American workers receive no paid vacation and 60 percent of part-time workers receive no such paid time off. For a nice illustration, comparing the time off mandated by other industrialized states, see p. 4 of the source cited for this answer.[8]
9. E[9] In Europe, paid sick leave is mandated for all employees.[10]
10. D[11]
11: E[12] For a deeper exploration of the ecological footprint, see the Global Footprint Network at . Students can measure their own, individual, ecological footprints by following the link titled "Your Footprint."
12: E The rates for these countries are as follows: Canada: 5.3. Czech Republic: 3.7. South Korea: 5.3. Iceland: 2.8. The United States ranks 28th in the world in infant mortality rates.[13]
13. D Thirty-nine other countries have higher life expectancy rankings even though Americans spend the highest percentage of GDP on health care, among all countries.[14]
14: B This was a 0.5 percent increase from the previous year, or an increase from 44.8 million uninsured Americans to 47 million. The segment of the population in which the most people lost insurance was made up of those in households earning $75,000 or more annually.[15]
15. D[16]
[1] Sullivan, Bob (2007, October 16). Life is harder now. Retrieved October 25, 2007, from MSNBC.com Web site:
[2] Sullivan
[3] Sullivan
[4] Sullivan
[5] Sullivan
[6] Ohlemacher, Stephen (2007, August 29). Associated Press/IU.S. poverty rate declines significantly. Retrieved October 25, 2007, from Associated Press/International Business Times (Australia) Web site: Reporting on U.S. Census Bureau report issued August. 28, 2007.
[7]Ray, Rebecca and John Schmitt (2007, May). No vacation nation . Retrieved October 26, 2007, from Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Web site:
[8] Ray and Schmitt
[9] Hartman, Heidi I. (2007, 2, 13). Senate Testimony. Retrieved November 27, 2007, Web site: http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2007_02_13/Hartmann.pdf
[10] Ray, Rebecca and John Schmitt
[11] Transportation Statistics 2005. Retrieved November 27, 2007, from Nationmaster.com Web site: (From World Development Indicators at World Bank)
[12](2006). Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity - 2006 Edition. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from Global Footprint Network Web site:
[13]OECD, (2007). Country Statistical Profiles 2007. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from OECD Statitstics Web site:
[14] Economist, (2006). Pocket World in Figures: 2007 Edition. London: Profile Books, Ltd..
[15] Ohlemacher
[16] Lotke, Eric, et al. (2007 June). The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth. Retrieved November 27, 2007, from Campaign for America's Future Web site: (Reporting on a CBS/NY Times Poll of February 2007)