Economics
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98 free Economics trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free economics trivia questions with answers. Ready to test your economics knowledge? Our engaging trivia quiz covers fundamental concepts in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and finance. Whether you're a student, professional, or economics enthusiast, discover how well you understand the principles that drive our global economy.
30 of 98 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In a market economy, what primarily determines the price of goods and services?
Interaction of supply and demand
The interaction of supply and demand sets prices: when buyers want more than sellers offer, prices climb; when goods pile up unsold, they fall. No planner needs to set them.
Q 02Which of the following is a fundamental characteristic of a capitalist economic system?
Private ownership of production
Capitalism is an economic system defined by private individuals or businesses owning and controlling the means of production, with the primary goal of generating profits. Free markets and competition are also key aspects.
Q 03What does Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measure?
Market value of final goods and services produced
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced within a country's borders during a specific time period, usually a year or a quarter. It is a key indicator of economic activity and health.
Q 04In economics, what is the 'opportunity cost' of a decision?
The value of the best alternative forgone
The value of the best alternative forgone is the opportunity cost: the true price of a choice is the next-best thing you gave up to make it.
Q 05John Maynard Keynes's 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money' was published in which year?
1936
The General Theory appeared in February 1936, in the shadow of the Great Depression; it denied that an economy automatically returns to full employment and gave macroeconomics much of its vocabulary.
Q 06Who completed and published volumes II and III of Marx's 'Das Kapital' from his manuscripts?
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels assembled volumes II and III from Marx's manuscripts and published them in 1885 and 1894, more than a decade after his collaborator's death; volume I had appeared in 1867.
Q 07Which institution created the economics prize awarded with the Nobels in 1968, marking its 300th anniversary?
Sveriges Riksbank
Founded in 1668, the Riksbank is the world's oldest surviving institution of its kind; the prize was first awarded in 1969 to Jan Tinbergen and Ragnar Frisch.
Q 08Which economic system blends private enterprise with government intervention?
Mixed economy
A mixed economy is what almost every modern country runs: markets do most of the allocating while the state regulates, provides public services and redistributes income.
Q 09What financial metric is the cost of borrowing money, usually expressed as a percentage?
Interest rate
Interest rates are a fundamental component of financial markets, influencing everything from mortgages and loans to savings accounts and investments.
Q 10What occurs when a government's total expenditures exceed its total revenues over a specific period?
Budget deficit
A budget deficit means the government spent more than it took in that year; the national debt is the pile of past deficits it still owes.
Q 11In trade theory, what describes a country producing a good more efficiently than another country?
Absolute advantage
The idea was first set out in the context of international trade in 1776, using labor as the only input, and it explains trade only when each side is outright better at making something.
Q 12What principle says countries should specialise where their opportunity cost is lowest, even if less efficient overall?
Comparative advantage
Comparative advantage, set out by David Ricardo in 1817, says a country gains by specialising where its opportunity cost is lowest even if it is worse at everything; it is often called economics' most counter-intuitive insight.
Q 13Which market structure has a single seller, high barriers to entry and strong pricing power?
Q 21Which graph rests on the idea that a 0% or 100% tax rate raises no revenue?
Laffer curve
The Laffer curve, named by Jude Wanniski in 1978 after economist Arthur Laffer, holds that tax revenue is zero at both 0% and 100% rates and peaks in between, so raising rates past the peak shrinks the take.
Q 22Which graph plots the income share of the bottom x percent of households against x?
Lorenz curve
It was devised by Max O. Lorenz in 1905; the further it sags below the 45-degree line of perfect equality, the more unequal the distribution.
Q 23When a government increases spending or cuts taxes to stimulate the economy, what is it doing?
Expansionary fiscal policy
Monopoly
A monopoly is one seller with no close substitutes, so it sets prices rather than accepting them; the board game of the same name began as a lesson in its dangers.
Q 14What is a downturn of two consecutive quarters of falling GDP commonly called?
Recession
A recession is a broad decline in economic activity; the popular rule of thumb is two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP, though the US NBER dates recessions using a wider set of indicators.
Q 15Which publication has published the tongue-in-cheek Big Mac Index since 1986?
The Economist
The Economist introduced the Big Mac Index in September 1986 as a light-hearted test of purchasing power parity: if exchange rates were right, the same burger would cost the same everywhere.
Q 16Which economic school advocates minimal government intervention, holding that free markets naturally yield efficiency?
Classical economics
Classical economics emphasizes the self-regulating nature of markets and advocates for 'laissez-faire' policies, with limited government interference.
Q 17What term describes average cost per unit falling as production of a good increases?
Economies of scale
Economies of scale are cost advantages reaped by companies when production becomes efficient, meaning the cost per unit of output decreases with increasing scale.
Q 18What do economists call something both non-excludable and non-rivalrous?
Public good
Public goods are characterized by non-excludability (it's hard to prevent people from using them) and non-rivalry (one person's use doesn't reduce availability for others).
Q 19Which institution is typically responsible for setting a country's monetary policy, chiefly through interest rates?
Central bank
The central bank manages the money supply and interest rates, and is usually kept at arm's length from politicians so it can make unpopular decisions.
Q 20The post-World War II Bretton Woods system pegged many currencies to which currency?
US Dollar
The arrangement ended on 15 August 1971, when the United States suspended the dollar's convertibility to gold, and the Jamaica Accords formally ratified its demise in 1976.
Expansionary fiscal policy means spending more or taxing less to lift demand; the monetary version is the central bank's job, done through interest rates.
Q 24What is a staple called when people buy more of it as it gets dearer, because they can no longer afford alternatives?
Giffen good
A Giffen good is a staple whose demand rises with its price; Alfred Marshall's example, credited to Robert Giffen, was bread among the very poor, who drop meat and buy even more bread when bread gets dearer.
Q 25Which behavioral-economics concept describes preferring to avoid losses over acquiring equivalent gains?
Loss aversion
Loss aversion makes a loss feel roughly twice as painful as an equal gain feels good, which is why streaks and sunk deposits are such effective motivators.
Q 26What type of unemployment comes from a mismatch between workers' skills and available jobs?
Structural unemployment
Structural unemployment arises when workers' skills do not match the jobs on offer, as when laid-off miners cannot fill local software vacancies; unlike cyclical unemployment it persists through recoveries.
Q 27What shows the combinations of two goods that give a consumer the same utility?
Indifference curve
An indifference curve is a graph showing various combinations of two goods or commodities that give the consumer equal satisfaction or utility.
Q 28Which curve says that in the short run, lower unemployment comes with higher inflation?
Phillips Curve
The Phillips curve, drawn by A. W. Phillips in 1958 from a century of UK wage and unemployment data, pairs low unemployment with high inflation; the 1970s, when both rose together, broke the short-run pattern.
Q 29What is a luxury item called when raising its price increases demand for it?
Veblen good
A Veblen good sells better the dearer it gets, because the price is the point; Thorstein Veblen called the motive conspicuous consumption, and the demand curve slopes upward.
Q 30What is the term for a tax imposed on imported goods and services?
Tariff
A tariff is a tax levied on imported goods or services, typically to protect domestic industries or generate revenue.