Week 1 Quiz
1. Why do Chris and Zach want to replace their beans and rice with corn?
• because corn can be made into tortillas, which are cheaper and have more calories than beans and rice
• because the corn is grown locally and the guys prefer to put money back into the local economy
• because they are getting sick of the taste of beans and rice
• because beans and rice provide many more calories than they need
2. Which of the following statements summarizes the views of “health trap” skeptics?
• It is not obvious whether poverty is caused by poor health or by poor governance.
• It is not obvious whether poverty is caused by malaria or by cholera.
• Health issues are overrated in discussions about poverty.
• It is the responsibility of NGOs, not local governments, to tackle health issues in developing countries.
3. According to the text, what impact has investing in preventative health care had on health outcomes?
• a negligible impact when costs and benefits are taken into account
• a uniformly positive impact
• a positive impact in some countries and negative impact in others
• a negative impact
4. The lack of demand for bed nets among poor Kenyans leads the authors to make which of the following conclusions about poverty and health?
• The poverty trap is insurmountable in Kenya.
• The Kenyan government has failed poor Kenyans.
• Help out of the poverty trap exists, but is not always in the right place.
• Bed nets are not very useful for combating malaria in Africa.
5. Which of the following is a reason given by the authors for poor villagers’ lack of preventative health care?
• Preventative health care is generally the responsibility of NGOs, which can be inefficient and unreliable.
• Preventative health care is generally the responsibility of the government, which can be inefficient and unreliable.
• Preventative health care is generally the responsibility of private companies, which can be inefficient and unreliable.
• Poor villagers are really only interested in traditional healers.
6. According to the video, how many people die each year from water-related diseases?
• 10 million
• 50,000
• 150,000
• 3.5 million
7. Why have economists (even “free market” ones) generally supported subsidies for health care?
• They believe health care is a sacred right and shouldn’t be subject to the market.
• They believe individual health gains are simultaneously beneficial to all of society’s health.
• They believe access to health care is the best sort of charitable contribution.
• They believe a healthy population is necessary to ward off economic depression.
8. What did the studies of bed net recipients through the TAMTAM program reveal about usage rates and bed net cost?
• Usage rates went up when bed nets were given out for free.
• Usage rates went down when bed nets were given out for free.
• Usage rates went down when bed nets were purchased at subsidized prices.
• Whether or not bed nets were given out for free or purchased at subsidized prices had little effect on usage.
9. Which of the following sentences summarizes the authors’ thoughts on the impact of “faith” on people’s health decision-making process? Choose the BEST answer.
• A lack of faith that medicine does any good at all hampers many people’s health.
• Faith can easily be overcome for most people, leading to better health care outcomes.
• Local leaders who instill bad faith in citizens are responsible for their citizens’ poverty and poor health.
• People’s willingness to accept different health care options is limited by their faith in the ability of these various options to help.
10. Which of the following is cited as a benefit of the health investments suggested by the authors?
• stronger democracy
• reduced illness and death
• decreased rates of education
• lower unemployment
11. Why do the authors not care whether or not their recommendations are seen as paternalistic? Choose the BEST answer.
• They feel paternalism isn’t nearly as negative a word as other development leaders historically have.
• They feel it is wrong for wealthy citizens, who reap all the benefits of a well-functioning state and society, to oppose life-saving initiatives for poor citizens on philosophical grounds.
• They feel poor citizens, who suffer from disproportionately high rates of sickness, should listen to more advanced countries no matter how they choose to communicate.
• They feel paternalism is the best policy for getting poor citizens focused on building better lives for themselves.
12. How does Rosling describe the health gains of Africa in the last 50 years?
• as a mirror of the industrialized world
• as a straight line of modest successes
• as a trickle
• as a jump from pre-medieval times to early 20th-century Europe
13. What is the modern “discrepancy” in developing countries that Rosling refers to?
• People are wealthy, but governments are poor.
• Economic progress is ahead of social progress.
• Women’s health and well-being is ahead of men’s.
• Social progress is ahead of economic progress.
14. Which of the following statements summarizes Rosling’s view on what constitutes a “developing” country?
• Only countries with low literacy can be considered “developing.”
• Asia and Africa are always poor, and Europe and North America are always rich.
• There should only be two designations for countries: “developed” and “developing.”
• In terms of economic progress, each country falls on a very long continuum of development.
15. Which of the following is one reason why richer countries like the United States have been able to get rid of malaria but poorer countries have not?
• Many doctors in developing countries feel that they have bigger problems to deal with than malaria.
• Many of the world’s poorest countries—which are disproportionately exposed to malaria—are close to the equator.
• Malaria doesn’t affect people in poor countries as severely as it affects people in rich countries, so there has been less of a push to eradicate it.
• People in the developed world (Europeans and North Americans) tend to have stronger immunities to malaria than people in the developing world.
