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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is an unconditional preference?
(a) A force of psychological nature.
(b) A preference that does not acknowledge other alternatives.
(c) A preference that does not change regardless of others' actions.
(d) A preference that has to be adopted by all members of a group.

2. What does Schelling say would be at risk in a culture where parents preferred male children?
(a) Safety.
(b) Cultural traditions.
(c) Monogamous marriage.
(d) Religion.

3. What does Schelling say would be the downside to chromosomal modification?
(a) Parents would feel pressure to compete by giving their children the modification.
(b) Unforeseen medical problems might emerge.
(c) The concept of human-ness might be diminished.
(d) People could argue that traits result more from nurture.

4. What does Schelling say would be the consequence of a culture preferring male children?
(a) Influx of immigrants.
(b) Shortage of workers.
(c) Shortage of wives.
(d) Shortage of soldiers.

5. How many possibilities does Schelling say social scientists have to account for when charting binary choice?
(a) Eight to sixteen.
(b) Many, but not an infinite amount.
(c) An infinite amount.
(d) Only two.

6. What does Schelling say might be a demographic consequence of parents choosing their children's traits?
(a) Median size might increase.
(b) Left-handedness might disappear.
(c) Median IQ might increase.
(d) Median longevity might increase.

7. How does Schelling account for people's decision to join the majority or follow their own path?
(a) He says that to join the majority is hard-wired into people.
(b) He says that it depends on the reasonableness of the behavior.
(c) Whether to join the majority is not always the most important factor.
(d) He says that people will follow certain individuals, not "the mass."

8. How hockey players feel when the league makes helmets mandatory, in Schelling's analysis?
(a) Relieved.
(b) Glad.
(c) Resentful.
(d) Rebellious.

9. Who was the American president who ordered the bomb to be dropped?
(a) Eisenhower.
(b) Roosevelt.
(c) Kennedy.
(d) Truman.

10. What does Schelling say parents are most concerned with in the case of vaccination?
(a) Who else is vaccinating their children.
(b) The benefits of the vaccine.
(c) How often the vaccination services are available.
(d) The consequences of not being vaccinated.

11. What does Schelling say can be included in closed models?
(a) Longevity predictions.
(b) Alternate preferences.
(c) Age.
(d) Predictions.

12. What does Schelling say about binary choices?
(a) Everyone faces them at some point.
(b) They are like life or death decisions.
(c) They are the building blocks of economic modeling.
(d) Sometimes they are paradoxes.

13. What does Schelling say happens when the youngest ten percent of a population moves?
(a) The old people are next to
(b) There is a new "youngest" ten percent.
(c) The population is now considered more distributed.
(d) The average age of the group decreases.

14. How is genetic modification different from eugenics?
(a) Genetic modification is more subtle.
(b) Eugenics allows for selection of more minute traits.
(c) Genetic modification theories have already led to ethnic cleansing.
(d) They are effectively the same.

15. What does Schelling say the government might do to correct the imbalance of male and female babies?
(a) Teach female children to read and write.
(b) Punish parents with too many boys.
(c) Offer tax incentives.
(d) Offer incentives for immigrants with female children.

Short Answer Questions

1. What second example does Schelling use to demonstrate a closed system with a density enhancement?

2. What is the central issue in the case Schelling presents regarding hockey helmets?

3. What has to happen before hockey players will accept the requirement to wear helmets, in Schelling's analysis?

4. What U.S. President decided not to use nuclear weapons in Kuwait?

5. How can one gather information about the choice of the majority, in Schelling's example?

(see the answer keys)

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