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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Schelling say race discrimination is caused by?

2. What does Schelling say is the term for a situation where two people hurt themselves and each other by making self-interested decisions?

3. What does Schelling say social scientists hope to describe by characterizing a system?

4. How many calls does the individual receive, in the aggregate, in Schelling's analysis?

5. What does the heating-system-like aspect of human behavior seek, in Schelling's analysis?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the two important components of idealized models of integration and segregation, in Schelling's analysis?

2. How does Schelling describe the role of the social scientist?

3. What is the relationship between behaviors that can be modeled and free will, in Schelling's analysis?

4. What behavior does discrimination allow Schelling to model?

5. How is nuclear arms control a self-fulfilling prophecy, in Schelling's analysis/

6. What example does Schelling use to illustrate an externality?

7. According to Schelling, what is not included in his model of integration and segregation?

8. What would be the consequence of parents preferring boys to girls, in Schelling's analysis?

9. What does Schelling say is the consequence of inadequate analysis of participants in an economic system?

10. What are the nine ways Schelling describes by which propositions can be constrained successfully?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Schelling's Micromotives and Macrobehavior is grounded in the opposition between the individual's feelings and motives, and the aggregate society's behavior. How does Schelling resolve the tension or opposition between these two things? Can a social scientist analyze aggregate behavior from an aggregate perspective? What happens to the individual in the model for the society? Does this cause a problem for Schelling or any social scientist as someone who is describing phenomena that can only be seen in the aggregate?

Essay Topic 2

Schelling's models seem to swing back and forth between literary metaphors and statistical methods. Is one predominant? Is one more or less reliable?

Essay Topic 3

What does Schelling mean when he says that systems strive for equilibrium? Use an example of a system that naturally seeks equilibrium--and define that equilibrium--and describe a natural system that does not seek equilibrium. What do the exceptions show about the general tendency?

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