Week 1 · Quiz

Week 1 — Quiz · Scarcity, Opportunity Cost & the PPF

Principles of Microeconomics · ECON 1 Fall 2026 · Prof. Kessler Fictional sample

Course: Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Kessler
Objective 1 · 10 questions · 10 points · closed to AI · one attempt
Auto-graded (Classic QTI): see F-quiz-week-01-qti.xml for the Canvas import. Every numeric answer is pre-computed; every curve/PPF claim is verified.

The questions (human-readable; answer key below)

Q1. In economics, scarcity means —
A) Running out of money before payday B) There are not enough resources to satisfy all wants, so people must choose C) A temporary shortage caused by hoarding D) Prices that are too high for most buyers

Q2. The opportunity cost of a choice is —
A) The dollar price printed on the tag B) The value of the next-best alternative you give up C) The sum of every alternative you did not choose D) Money you have already spent and cannot recover

Q3. You turn down a babysitting job that pays $75 to attend a concert with a free ticket. The opportunity cost of attending is —
A) $0, because the ticket was free B) $75 C) More than $75 D) Impossible to determine

Q4. A straight-line PPF runs between 40 surfboards (and 0 kayaks) and 20 kayaks (and 0 surfboards). The opportunity cost of producing 1 kayak is —
A) Half a surfboard B) 2 surfboards C) 20 surfboards D) 40 surfboards

Q5. A production point INSIDE a country's PPF indicates that —
A) The country is producing efficiently B) Some resources are idle or used inefficiently C) The combination is unattainable D) Technology has improved

Q6. Most real-world PPFs bow OUTWARD (are concave) because of —
A) Constant opportunity cost B) Increasing opportunity cost, since resources are specialized C) Falling prices as output rises D) A shrinking population

Q7. (Select all that apply.) Which of the following are NORMATIVE statements?
☑ A) The government should adopt a carbon tax ☐ B) Raising tariffs reduces the quantity of imports ☑ C) Health care ought to be free at the point of use ☐ D) A binding price ceiling causes a shortage ☑ E) Income inequality in this country is too high

Q8. (True/False) A production point inside the PPF is unattainable given current resources. → False

Q9. (Matching) Scarcity → Limited resources meeting unlimited wants; Opportunity cost → The value of the next-best alternative forgone; An efficient point → A point on the frontier that uses all resources; A positive statement → A testable claim about what is. (Distractor: "A value judgment about what ought to be.")

Q10. A grant fully covers your tuition this year. To an economist, the LARGEST cost of attending college full-time is still —
A) Tuition (already covered) B) The cost of textbooks C) The opportunity cost of the wages and work experience forgone while enrolled D) Zero, because tuition is free

Answer key & feedback (instructor)

Q	Type	Answer	Feedback (the idea)
1	MC	B	Scarcity = limited means vs. unlimited wants; it forces choice even for the wealthy.
2	MC	B	Opportunity cost = the single next-best forgone alternative, not the price tag and not all alternatives.
3	MC	B	Forgone wages ($75) are the cost; "free" admission doesn't make the choice free.
4	MC	B	40 surfboards ÷ 20 kayaks = 2 surfboards per kayak (state cost in the other good).
5	MC	B	Inside the frontier = attainable but inefficient (idle resources, e.g., unemployment).
6	MC	B	Specialized resources → increasing opportunity cost → the bowed-out shape.
7	MA	A, C, E	"Should/ought/too high" = value judgments (normative). B and D are testable (positive).
8	TF	False	Interior points are inefficient, not unattainable; unattainable points lie outside the frontier.
9	Match	as above	Distractor "value judgment about what ought to be" = a normative statement, not the positive one.
10	MC	C	The dominant cost of college is forgone earnings, which a tuition grant does not offset.

Quality gate (self-checked): Q3 ($75) and Q4 (40 ÷ 20 = 2 surfboards) re-computed in Python ✓; every single-answer item has exactly one correct option; PPF claims (interior = inefficient; bowed = increasing opportunity cost) verified ✓; distractors target the named traps (price-tag vs. opportunity cost, flipped PPF ratio, "inefficient vs. unattainable," "positive = good"). No free numeric entry.

This is the human-readable quiz with its vetted answer key and rationale. The import-ready Classic-QTI version (F-quiz-week-01-qti.xml) ships inside the course's .imscc package — it lands in the Canvas gradebook on import.

~ Prof. Kessler's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com