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7/30/2019 Gat Economics Nov 2006
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GAT ECONOMICS NOV 2006
Question 1
a) Wants are desires of people to obtain and use various goods and services which provide utility
or satisfaction. Wants are what human beings wish to desire to have. These wants are
unlimited. In Economics, however, not all wishes and desires are classified as wants. For
example, the desire to be on the surface of the sun is not an economic want as at now.
b) 1. Wants are unlimited in number as one want is satisfied another takes its place. For example,
the satisfaction of the want of an apartment creates new wants for furnishing.
2. Wants differ in importance some are more urgent than others. Generally, the most important
wants are called basic wants or necessities and include food, clothing and shelter. These are thefirst to be satisfied, followed by the less important wants.
3. Wants change over time due to factors such as income changes, tastes, diets, fashion and
climate.
4. Resources, or the means to satisfy wants, are relatively scarce and have alternative uses.
c) Land , a productive resource is all the natural resources, all gifts of nature such as arable
land , forests, mineral and oil deposit and water resources.
Capital is all manufactures aids to production, that is all, tools, machinery, equipment, and
factory, storage facilities, transportation and distribution facilities used in producing goods and
getting them to the ultimate consumer.
Labour is a catchall word that refers to all the physical and mental talents of men and women
available and usable in the production of goods and services. Examples of labour services are
the services of lecturers, office clerks, dentists football players etc.
- Entrepreneurship T his factor of production cloud be referred to as the factor that gives
birth to any productive activity. Some of the duties of the entrepreneur are the entrepreneur
takes the initiative in combining the resources of land, labour and capital to produce a good
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or a service: the entrepreneur makes basic business-poly decisions which set the course and
the direction of a business enterprise: the entrepreneur is the innovator etc.
d) At any point in time, the human beings are faced with many wants which are unlimited.
However, the economic resources to satisfy these wants are limited. This implies that man is
confronted with the problem of unlimited wants and limited economic resources giving birth to
the basic economic problem scarcity or resources in the face of unlimited wants. Relativescarcity of economic resources is therefore, the fundamental economic problem ( the imbalance
between resources and wants) .
Question 2
a.
b. The equilibrium price and quantity are 5,500 and 450 kilos respectively
c. i. Excess supply of 500 kilos (AB)ii. Excess demand of 700 kilos (ZY)
d. i. Depict in diagram as D1 (decrease in demand)
ii. The new equilibrium price and quantity are 4,000 and 300 kilos respectively.
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iii. The decrease in demand to D1 created surplus at the equilibrium price of 5,500. In the
face of the surplus, price begins to fall quantity demanded and supplied declined along D1 and
S0 until the new equilibrium price and quantity are attained.
Question 3
a. A change in price changes quantity supplied of a commodity not supply. Kofis statement
is false.
b. If the demand for a commodity is elastic, it means a given percentage fall in price will lead
to a greater percentage increase in quantity demanded. Total expenditure on the commodity
increases. Amas statement is valid.
c. Substitutes are commodities that serve nearly the same purpose. If the price of commodity
A increases its quantity demanded will fall. Since commodities A and B are substitutes the
demand for commodity B will increase. Kwames statement is true.
d. Inferior goods per se are not exceptions to the law of demand. Giffen goods are the only
exception to the law of demand. Belindas statement is wrong.
e. The demand curve for a firm is a perfectly market is horizontal and parallel to the quantity
axis because the individual firm is a price taker. However, the demand curve for the market
is negatively sloped. This is because for the whole market to sell more of its output price
must fall. Daniels statement is false.
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Question 4
The expenditure approach involves totaling expenditure by individuals, firms and the state on goods
and services, be they consumption or investment goods.
Symbolically, GDE C + I + G + (X-M) .
where:
C = Personal consumption expenditure is made up of expenditure by households ondurable and non-durable goods and services. For example, household expenditure
on plantain, cars shoes, etc.
I = Gross Private Domestic Investment, i.e. business fixed investment
e.g. plant and machinery, all construction such as business and residential
buildings and changes in inventory.
G = government Purchases of final Goods and services consist of central
government expenditure on defence, wages and salaries of government
employees and other expenditure on and by local authority. However,
it excludes all government transfer payments because such outlays do
not reflect any current production.
(X-M) = net exports:- these consist of exports of goods and services minus
imports of goods and services.
C + I + G = Total domestic Expenditure at market price (TDE M)
TDE M + (X M) = Gross domestic Expenditure at market price (GDE M)
GDE M + P = GNE M
GNE M Depreciation NNE M
NNE M indirect taxes + subsidies = NNE at factor cost
NNE at factor cost = National Income
b. 1. A good deal of the estimates of private consumption relies on population. In addition, the
reliability of the estimates depends on regular household surveys that may be a very expensive
venture.
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2. Difficulties in estimating exports and imports values: Under invoicing and over invoicing of
imports and exports makes it extremely difficult to determine the actual value of net exports.
This problem tends to grossly understate or overstate the national income statistics.
3. Multiple counting: This occurs when a unit of expenditure is counted more than once. To
eliminate this, only expenditure on final output is counted. For example, we count theexpenditure on shoes and not on the shoemakers expenditure on leather because this will mean
multiple counting.
Question 5
a)
Real
GDP(Y)
Taxes Yd
Y-T
C S
Y-C
I G AE
C+I+G
430 20 410 412 -8-2 20 10 442450 20 430 428 2 20 10 458470 20 450 444 6 20 10 474490 20 470 460 10 20 10 490510 20 490 476 14 20 10 506530 20 510 492 18 20 10 522
C = 16 = 0.8
b) The marginal propensity to consume (mpc) is Yd 20
c) If the mpc is 0.8 then income induced consumption for GDP = 430 is (0.8)430 = 344. But totalconsumption at GDP = 430 is 412. The autonomous consumption is 412 344 = 68.
d) The equilibrium GDP is 490
e) In this economy the injection are (I + G) and the leakages are (S + T). In equilibrium I = 20, G
= 10, T = 20 and S = 10. Therefore, I + G = S + T in equilibrium.
f) Government Budget = taxes revenue (20) government Expenditure (10) = 10
Question 6
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a. Commercial banks are business enterprises, often joint stock companies that make a living
profit out of handling money and other valuables. They are profit-making institutions and are
committed to their shareholders who must be paid dividends. The main sources of income
available to Commercial Banks are interest on loans, discounting bills of exchange,
commission charged on current account, returns on investments, e.g. securities and industrial
enterprises and other charges made on customers.
A Central Bank is the bank at the apex of the banking system of a country. It is a government
bank, which aims at controlling the level of activities in the economy through the monetary
system. The Central bank is charged with the responsibility of issuing and redeeming of the
countrys currency. The primary aim of a Central Bank is not to maximize profit.
b.
1. Accepting of deposits: Accepting of deposits from customers is, in fact, the most fundamental
function of commercial banks. The accounts that customers can keep with commercial banksmay be divided into two broad categories viz. current account and deposit account. Deposit
Account is further divided into Saving Account and Fixed or Time Deposit.
2. Lending money to customers: This is the most important function of commercial banks and
may be done in three main ways.
a. Loans advanced to the Customers:
b. Leading by Overdraft:
c. Lending by Discounting Bills of Exchange
3. They act as agents to their customers: Commercial Banks act as agents for their customers in
the sale and purchase of stocks and shares. They are also willing to advise their customers on
their choice of investments and make periodic payments, such as the transfer of monthly
allowances, subscriptions etc.
4. Investing in the Economy: Commercial Banks, at times, invest directly, either in partnership or
alone, in the economy. In Ghana, commercial banks investments can be seen in sectors likeagriculture, industry, etc.
5. Foreign Trade financiers: They see to the necessary transfer of foreign currencies for their
customers and are prepared to guarantee payments via letters of credit for them.
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6. They act as trustees and executors: The large commercial banks have departments through
which they undertake responsibility for trustee work, particularly in connection with the
administration of the estates of deceased persons.
c.
1. Banking for the Government: The Central banks looks after the central governments account.
In addition, it may extend to the government straight forward loans. The central bank also
keeps the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the country.
2. Managing the National Debt: This involves issuing new blocks of securities on behalf of the
government, repaying maturing securities and paying interest to bond holders.
3. Controlling the Issue of Notes: The central bank is the only bank responsible for issuing a
nations currency (notes and coins). A special department of the bank, the Issue Department,
undertakes this work. Its main job is to print and release notes into the economy with referenceto the laws relating to note issue and the needs of the country. The Issue Department also deals
with putting coins into circulation. It is also the duty of the central bank to redeem worn out
notes if the need arises.
4. Regulating the Volume of Money supply or Credit: The central bank is responsible for
maintaining economic stability i.e. avoiding the dangers of inflation and recession and
maintaining employment at the disposal of the central bank for this purpose will be discussed
under monetary policies.
5. Acting as the Bankers Bank: The central bank is also the bankers bank. It holds the reserves
of the various commercial banks, so that a transfer of the necessary amounts from one account
to another may be affected between them.
6. Lender of Last Resort: the central bank acts as the lender of last resort to the money market
and the government. If the commercial banks are faced liquidity problems, the central bank
lends to them as the last resort.
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Question 7
a. Is a tax imposed on the incomes or the earnings of a person or a corporate body and is paid
directly to the government through public authorities such as the Internal Revenue Service or
the local authority in Ghana. Usually each individuals tax liability is assessed separately.
People who pay direct taxes cannot shift the incidence or burden of payment to some other
individuals e.g. \personal Income Tax, Property Tax and Company Tax, Gift Tax
b.
1. It is progressive. Progressive taxation enables people to pay taxes based on their incomes. In a
progressive tax system, higher income earners pay relatively more tax than lower income
earnings. Progressive taxes are the best way of ensuring a fair distribution of income.
2. As a fiscal measure, it is useful as it affects spending directly. Income taxes reduce disposable
income and can therefore be used as a means of manipulating the level of aggregate demand,which may have a stabilizing effect on incomes, prices and balance of payments.
3. Direct taxes are certain. It is possible to estimate the expected revenue from a direct tax.
Direct taxes are also convenient to the taxpayer because most direct taxes are collected at
source. This makes direct taxes usually cheap and economical to collect.
c.
1. Direct taxes could be disincentive to effort, disincentive to enterprise and discourages savings
by individuals. Direct taxes imposed on consumers would reduce their disposable incomes. If
consumers maintain their levels of consumption their ability to save would reduce. Higher
direct taxes levied on business enterprises may also be disincentive to enterprises affecting their
propensity to save and reinvest.
2. Direct taxes are normally politically unpopular and may create industrial or political unrest.
These taxes affect disposable incomes directly and in economies in which people are barely
surviving on their salaries and wages an increase in direct taxes for example, personal income
tax may be socio-economically damaging.
3. Direct taxes are easily evaded as compared to indirect taxes via falsification of earned income
records either by individuals or firms.
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