The Following Appeared in a Florida Newspaper a Week After

question 161

Multiple Choice

The following appeared in a Florida newspaper a week after a hurricane hit the state."Floridians are relieved that the storm produced no fatalities but homeowners face weeks, if not months, of rebuilding.Matters are made worse by the soaring prices of plywood and other building materials that always follow in a hurricane's path.Complaints of profiteering and price gouging have not deterred firms from raising their prices by over 100 percent." Which of the following offers the best explanation for the price increases referred to in the article?

• A)The hurricane increased the number of suppliers of building materials.
• B)The hurricane created an artificial shortage of building materials.
• C)The hurricane caused an increase in the demand for building materials.
• D)There was a reduction in supply as firms shipped plywood and other materials to locations not affected by the storm.

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Definitions:

U-1 Measure

A specific metric used to evaluate the unemployment rate, focusing on people who have been unemployed for 15 weeks or longer.

U-6 Measure

An unemployment rate that includes not only those who are unemployed and seeking employment but also those who are underemployed and the marginally attached to the labor force.

Spells Of Unemployment

Spells of unemployment refer to periods during which an individual is out of work and actively seeking employment.

U-5 Measure

An alternative unemployment rate that counts not only unemployed individuals actively seeking work but also those who are marginally attached to the labor force plus those working part-time for economic reasons.