Chapter MCQ Test 2 — Population and Human Development
10 Questions • 12 min • Chapter MCQ
12:00
Question 1 of 10
Two countries have the same number of people, but one has a skilled, healthy workforce and the other an unskilled, sick one. The first country's population is more of a/an:
Asset (its quality is higher)
Burden
Liability
Tax
Explanation: Population quality, not just size, decides whether people are an asset — the skilled, healthy nation gains.
Question 2 of 10
A government builds schools and hospitals for its large young population. This is best described as:
Human capital formation
Physical capital only
A tax
Depreciation
Explanation: Investing in education and health builds human capital — the productive abilities of people.
Question 3 of 10
A country with a high GDP but low life expectancy and poor literacy would score:
Lower on the HDI than its income alone suggests
Top of the HDI
Zero GDP
Maximum HDI
Explanation: Because the HDI also weighs health and education, weak outcomes there pull the score below what income alone implies.
Question 4 of 10
Cutting down all forests to maximise today's output would violate the principle of:
Sustainable development
Human capital
Free trade
Barter
Explanation: Exhausting resources for present gain harms future generations — the opposite of sustainability.
Question 5 of 10
Why is investing in a healthy workforce also good economics, not just good ethics?
Healthy workers are more productive, raising output
It lowers GDP
It has no economic effect
It increases pollution
Explanation: Health raises the ability to work and learn, lifting productivity and the economy's output.
Question 6 of 10
The modern view that 'development is about people, not just money' is captured by the:
Human Development Index
Wholesale Price Index
Index of Industrial Production
Birth rate
Explanation: The HDI broadens success beyond income to include health and knowledge — development centred on people.
Question 7 of 10
A falling death rate while the birth rate stays high tends to create a population that is:
Growing rapidly and relatively young
Shrinking
All elderly
Unchanging
Explanation: Fewer deaths and continued high births swell numbers and the share of young people.
Question 8 of 10
Switching to renewable energy and reducing pollution are ways to achieve:
Sustainable development
Higher death rates
Lower human capital
Barter
Explanation: Cleaner, resource-conserving growth protects the environment for the future — sustainable development.
Question 9 of 10
A large population becomes a 'demographic dividend' (a benefit) when the many young people are:
Educated, healthy and given jobs
Left unskilled and idle
Made to migrate
Counted twice
Explanation: A skilled, employed young workforce powers growth; without education, health and jobs the advantage is lost.
Question 10 of 10
The ultimate purpose of studying economics, as this course shows, is to:
Improve human well-being, fairly and sustainably
Maximise pollution
Count money only
Increase scarcity
Explanation: From scarcity to human development, economics aims at raising well-being for people today and tomorrow.