Tackle the Test: Free-Response Questions

1. Question

   Define the term resources, and list the four categories of resources. What characteristic of resources results in the need to make choices?

   Rubric for FRQ 1

   1 point: Resources are anything that can be used to produce something else.

   1 point each: The four categories of the economy’s resources are land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.

   1 point: The characteristic that results in the need to make choices is scarcity.

2. Question

   In what type of economic analysis do questions have a “right” or “wrong” answer? In what type of economic analysis do questions not necessarily have a “right” answer? On what type of economic analysis do economists tend to disagree most frequently? Why might economists disagree? Explain. (5 points)

   Rubric for FRQ 2 (5 points)

   1 point: Positive economics (the answers are based on facts)

   1 point: Normative economics (the answers involve value judgments)

   1 point: Normative economics (because opinions and value judgments differ)

   1 point: Economists disagree about models.

   1 point: Economists might disagree because of differences in values and in the assumptions they find appropriate when constructing models.