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Amartya Sen #3 - Practice Questions

1. Amartya Sen hypothesized that: *

no famine has taken place in a functioning democracy

famines occur, but are very rare in functioning democracies

the extreme number of famines in democratic countries supports the idea of central planning

2. Which of the following is NOT a reason democracies may experience fewer famines? *

politicians face strong incentives to please voters

opposition parties can publicize the mistakes of current government

both a. and b.

3. Besley and Burgess, building on the ideas of Amartya Sen, found that Indian states with higher newspaper distribution: *

saw a significant increase food distribution and calamity relief expenditures compared to states with lower paper distributions

had higher levels of food distribution and calamity relief in expenditures states with lower paper distributions, but only during election years

surprisingly had less food distribution and calamity relief than states with lower paper circulation