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Generate QuizEconomics – Fill in the Blank – GK Questions
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The WTO agreement that specifically addresses the sanitary and phytosanitary measures—such as food safety standards and animal/plant health regulations—that countries apply to imports is known as the ___ Agreement.
- constant
- stagflation
- SPS (or Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures)
- Rules
Answer: SPS (or Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures)
The SPS Agreement acknowledges a country's sovereign right to protect its citizens and agriculture from pests, diseases, and contaminated food. However, to prevent these measures from being used as disguised protectionism (Non-Tariff Barriers), the WTO mandates that SPS regulations must be based on rigorous scientific evidence, applied only to the extent necessary, and not arbitrarily discriminate between trading partners.
The ___ Committee, constituted by the RBI in 1997 and later in 2006, was tasked with laying down a comprehensive roadmap for moving towards Fuller Capital Account Convertibility in India.
- base
- Tarapore
- Green
- multiplier
Answer: Tarapore
The S.S. Tarapore Committee outlined the macroeconomic prerequisites India must achieve before allowing the Rupee to be fully convertible on the capital account (allowing citizens to freely move massive amounts of wealth across borders for asset purchases). It recommended targets like reducing the fiscal deficit, lowering inflation, and building massive forex reserves to ensure the economy could withstand the volatility of unrestricted global capital flows.
In the Balance of Payments (BOP) accounting, the unilateral transfer of funds by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to their families living in India is recorded as a credit entry in the ___ Account.
- Production
- Current
- 112
- negative
Answer: Current
Remittances are classified as unilateral (one-way) transfers where no physical good, service, or financial asset is exchanged in return. Because they represent current income flowing into the country and directly impact the nation's immediate purchasing power and consumption, they are strictly recorded in the Current Account, not the Capital Account. India is consistently the world's largest recipient of such remittances.
The proceeds collected from a 'Cess' (like the Education Cess or Health and Education Cess) are strictly earmarked for a specific purpose and, unlike standard taxes, are ___ shared with the State Governments.
- balance (or sum to zero)
- trust (or confidence / faith)
- construction (or real estate / infrastructure)
- not (or never)
Answer: not (or never)
Article 270 of the Constitution mandates that the net proceeds of most taxes collected by the Centre must be shared with the States based on the Finance Commission's recommendations. However, Cesses and Surcharges (under Article 271) are explicit exceptions. The Centre retains 100% of the revenue generated from Cesses and Surcharges, which has recently become a point of friction as the Centre increasingly relies on them, shrinking the divisible pool available to States.
Article ___ of the Indian Constitution strictly mandates that no money shall be withdrawn from the 'Consolidated Fund of India' except under appropriation made by law passed by the Parliament.
- dumping
- 2003
- Governing Council
- 266 (or 266(3))
Answer: 266 (or 266(3))
Article 266 establishes the Consolidated Fund of India, which comprises all government revenues, loans raised, and money received in repayment of loans. Clause (3) of this article is the bedrock of parliamentary democracy and financial control, ensuring that the executive branch cannot spend a single rupee of the public's money without the explicit legislative approval and oversight of the elected representatives.
In the long run, the Phillips Curve is generally considered to be ___ at the Natural Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU), implying that there is no permanent trade-off between inflation and unemployment.
- social
- PCA (or Prompt Corrective Action)
- Nominal
- vertical
Answer: vertical
While A.W. Phillips originally observed a downward-sloping short-run trade-off (lower unemployment equals higher inflation), monetarists like Milton Friedman argued this is an illusion. In the long run, workers adjust their inflation expectations and demand higher nominal wages, nullifying any employment gains from inflation. Thus, the Long-Run Phillips Curve is perfectly vertical at the natural rate of unemployment, meaning monetary policy can only dictate inflation, not long-term job levels.
The total monetary base of an economy, which consists of currency held by the public plus the vault cash and reserves held by commercial banks with the central bank, is technically referred to as ___ Money or Reserve Money.
- India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL)
- Paper Gold
- long
- High Powered (or Base / M0)
Answer: High Powered (or Base / M0)
High-Powered Money (denoted as M0 or Reserve Money) is the foundation upon which the entire banking system creates broader money supply (M1, M3). It represents the direct liabilities of the central bank (RBI). Any expansion in high-powered money, achieved through RBI's open market operations or forex purchases, gets multiplied through the commercial banking system to determine the total liquidity in the economy.
To avoid the problem of double counting while estimating National Income, economists only consider the value of ___ goods and services, completely ignoring the value of intermediate goods used in the production process.
- final
- India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL)
- Mobile
- countervailing
Answer: final
Double counting occurs when the value of raw materials (like wheat) and the final product (like bread) are both added to the GDP, artificially inflating the national income. By strictly counting only 'final' goods—those purchased by the end consumer for direct consumption or investment—the economy accurately captures the total value created without duplicating the costs of intermediate inputs.
The 'Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Urban Livelihoods Mission' (DAY-NULM) focuses on reducing poverty among the urban poor by organizing them into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and providing support for setting up ___ enterprises.
- Coase
- micro
- Paper Gold
- base
Answer: micro
While its rural counterpart (NRLM) operates in villages, DAY-NULM specifically targets the urban poor, including street vendors, ragpickers, and slum dwellers. It provides capital subsidies, skill training, and access to institutional credit to help them establish sustainable micro-enterprises, thereby facilitating their transition from informal, precarious daily-wage labor to stable, self-employed entrepreneurs.
The 'PM Gati Shakti' National Master Plan is a digital platform that integrates and coordinates the infrastructure planning and execution of ___ central ministries and state governments to avoid siloed working.
- Unfunded
- micro
- frictional
- 16
Answer: 16
Historically, infrastructure projects in India suffered from severe delays because ministries worked in silos (e.g., a road being dug up immediately after completion to lay optical fiber cables). Gati Shakti integrates the spatial data and plans of 16 key ministries (including Railways, Roadways, Petroleum, and Telecom) onto a single GIS-based digital platform, ensuring synchronized, multi-modal infrastructure development.
The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd, commonly known as ___, is the apex body of cooperative marketing societies in India and plays a crucial role in price support operations for pulses and oilseeds.
- NAFED
- Lewis
- negative
- 3.5
Answer: NAFED
Established in 1958, NAFED acts as the central nodal agency for implementing the Price Support Scheme (PSS) under PM-AASHA. When market prices for pulses, oilseeds, and copra fall below the Minimum Support Price (MSP), NAFED steps in to procure these commodities directly from farmers, thereby protecting them from distress sales and ensuring food security buffer stocks.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India to promote the export of agricultural products, and it functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of ___.
- Okun's
- High Powered (or Base / M0)
- Commerce and Industry
- 1998
Answer: Commerce and Industry
While domestic agriculture is handled by the Ministry of Agriculture, APEDA operates under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry because its primary mandate is export-oriented. It is responsible for setting standards, conducting market research, and providing financial assistance to exporters of fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, and processed foods to enhance India's footprint in global agri-trade.
The term 'Hindu Rate of Growth', coined by Professor Raj Krishna, was used to describe the slow and unimpressive annual growth rate of the Indian economy, which hovered around ___% during the pre-1980s era.
- 3.5
- John Maynard Keynes
- Rules
- Net Factor Income from Abroad (NFIA)
Answer: 3.5
The 'Hindu Rate of Growth' referred to the sluggish 3.5% average annual GDP growth India experienced from the 1950s to the 1980s. Because the population was growing at roughly 2% per year, the per capita income growth was a mere 1.5%. The term was used critically to highlight the failure of the highly regulated, state-controlled 'License Raj' to generate rapid economic prosperity.
The 'Fiscal ___' measures the ratio of the change in national income to the initial change in autonomous government spending that caused it, capturing the ripple effect of public expenditure through the economy.
- Okun's
- final
- multiplier
- decrease (or reduce / lower)
Answer: multiplier
When the government spends Rs. 100 on building a road, that money becomes income for construction workers, who then spend a portion of it on food and clothes, creating income for others. The fiscal multiplier quantifies this chain reaction. If the multiplier is 1.5, an initial Rs. 100 injection ultimately expands the total GDP by Rs. 150.
The '___ Consensus' refers to a set of ten market-oriented policy prescriptions—including fiscal discipline, tax reform, trade liberalization, and privatization—that were heavily promoted for crisis-hit developing countries by Washington-based institutions in the late 1980s and 1990s.
- Treasury
- PT (or PY)
- Washington
- decrease (or reduce / lower)
Answer: Washington
Coined by John Williamson in 1989, the Washington Consensus became the standard reform package prescribed by the IMF and World Bank for Latin American and Asian nations facing debt crises. While it successfully stabilized macroeconomies and curbed hyperinflation, it was later heavily criticized for ignoring institutional weaknesses, exacerbating income inequality, and triggering severe social backlash due to rapid austerity measures.
In macroeconomics, the term '___' refers to a situation where a country's GDP expands significantly over a period, but the employment elasticity remains low, meaning the growth fails to generate proportional wage jobs for the expanding workforce.
- low (or zero / no)
- isoquant
- micro
- jobless growth
Answer: jobless growth
Jobless growth typically occurs when an economy's expansion is driven by capital-intensive sectors (like petrochemicals or automated manufacturing) or high-skill services (like IT), rather than labor-intensive sectors like textiles or agriculture. This creates a dangerous structural imbalance where corporate profits and national wealth rise, but the masses experience stagnant wages and high underemployment.
For a monopolist to successfully practice price discrimination, three conditions must be met: the firm must have market power, it must be able to segment the market based on price elasticity, and it must be able to prevent ___ between the different market segments.
- arbitrage (or resale)
- low (or zero / no)
- lender of last resort
- TRIMs (or Trade-Related Investment Measures)
Answer: arbitrage (or resale)
Arbitrage is the act of buying a good cheaply in one segment and reselling it at a higher price in another. If a monopolist charges students $10 and professionals $50 for software, it must use digital locks or ID verification to prevent students from buying bulk licenses and reselling them to professionals. If arbitrage is possible, the price discrimination strategy instantly collapses.
Fiat money is a type of currency that has no intrinsic value (like gold or silver) and is not backed by a physical commodity; its value derives entirely from government decree and the public's ___ in its acceptance as a medium of exchange.
- 3.5
- PT
- trust (or confidence / faith)
- lending (or credit)
Answer: trust (or confidence / faith)
Modern paper currencies are pure fiat. A Rs. 500 note is just a piece of paper, but it commands immense purchasing power because the law mandates it as legal tender, and crucially, because every citizen trusts that they can exchange it for goods and services tomorrow. If this institutional trust collapses (as seen in historical hyperinflations), the fiat currency reverts to its zero intrinsic value.
The period during which a country's working-age population (15-59 years) grows significantly faster than its dependent population (children and elderly), creating a window for accelerated economic growth, is referred to as the demographic ___.
- Tarapore
- creditor
- middle-income (and creditworthy low-income)
- dividend (or window of opportunity)
Answer: dividend (or window of opportunity)
India entered this demographic dividend phase around the early 2000s and is expected to remain in it until the 2040s. However, economists stress that this is merely a 'window of opportunity.' If the economy fails to generate sufficient quality jobs, or if the workforce lacks adequate health and education, this demographic bulge will turn into a massive demographic disaster characterized by high youth unemployment and social unrest.
A ___ duty is a specific tariff imposed by an importing country to neutralize the negative impact of foreign government subsidies provided to the exporters of that product.
- Green
- Paris
- National Income
- countervailing
Answer: countervailing
When a foreign government heavily subsidizes its domestic steel industry, those companies can export steel at artificially low prices. To level the playing field and protect its own domestic steel manufacturers from this unfair, state-sponsored competition, the importing nation levies a countervailing duty exactly equal to the estimated value of the foreign subsidy.