Imagine That Three City Council Members Are Trying to Decide $\succ$

question 19

Multiple Choice

Imagine that three city council members are trying to decide how to spend a surplus. The options currently being debated are (i) spend it on improving primary education in the municipality, (ii) spend it on improving the level of medical care offered by the local hospital, or (iii) lower local taxes and use the surplus to cover the costs of existing programs. The council employs majority rule to make its decisions. The councillors have the following preference orderings over the spending choices:
Councillor 1: Education $\succ$ Medical $\succ$ Tax cut
Councillor 2: Medical $\succ$ Tax cut $\succ$ Education
Councillor 3: Tax cut $\succ$ Education $\succ$ Medical
Assume that the councillors hold a round-robin tournament that pits each alternative against every other alternative in a series of pair-wise votes. The winner is the alternative that wins the most contests. Based on this information, answer the following four questions.
-Given the preference orderings listed above, what would the result be of a pair-wise contest between the spending choices tax cut and education?

• A) education
• B) medical
• C) tax cut
• D) it would be a tie

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Definitions:

B.F. Skinner

B.F. Skinner was an American psychologist and behaviorist known for his work in developing the theory of operant conditioning, emphasizing the effects of reinforcement and punishment on behavior.

Unconditioned Response

A natural, automatic reaction to a stimulus, not learned or based on past experience.

Unconditioned Stimulus

In classical conditioning, this refers to a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any prior learning.

Neutral Stimulus

A stimulus that initially produces no specific response other than focusing attention, which can become a conditioned stimulus when used in classical conditioning.