As the payments system evolves from barter to a monetary system,

3.3 Evolution of the Payments System
1) The payments system is
A) the method of conducting transactions in the economy.
B) used by union officials to set salary caps.
C) an illegal method of rewarding contracts.
D) used by your employer to determine salary increases.
Answer: A
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2) As the payments system evolves from barter to a monetary system,
A) commodity money is likely to precede the use of paper currency.
B) transaction costs increase.
C) the number of prices that need to be calculated increase rather dramatically.
D) specialization decreases.
Answer: A
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3) A disadvantage of ________ is that it is very heavy and hard to transport from one place to
another.
A) commodity money
B) fiat money
C) electronic money
D) paper money
Answer: A
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4) Paper currency that has been declared legal tender but is not convertible into coins or precious
metals is called ________ money.
A) commodity
B) fiat
C) electronic
D) funny
Answer: B
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5) When paper currency is decreed by governments as legal tender, legally it must be ________.
A) paper currency backed by gold
B) a precious metal such as gold or silver
C) accepted as payment for debts
D) convertible into an electronic payment
Answer: C
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6) The evolution of the payments system from barter to precious metals, then to fiat money, then to
checks can best be understood as a consequence of the fact that
A) paper is more costly to produce than precious metals.
B) precious metals were not generally acceptable.
C) precious metals were difficult to carry and transport.
D) paper money is less accepted than checks.
Answer: C
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7) Compared to checks, paper currency and coins have the major drawbacks that they
A) are easily stolen.
B) are hard to counterfeit.
C) are not the most liquid assets.
D) must be backed by gold.
Answer: A
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8) Introduction of checks into the payments system reduced the costs of exchanging goods and
services. Another advantage of checks is that
A) they provide convenient receipts for purchases.
B) they can never be stolen.
C) they are more widely accepted than currency.
D) the funds from a deposited check are available for use immediately.
Answer: A
Ques Status: New
9) The evolution of the payments system from barter to precious metals, then to fiat money, then to
checks can best be understood as a consequence of
A) government regulations designed to improve the efficiency of the payments system.
B) government regulations designed to promote the safety of the payments system.
C) innovations that reduced the costs of exchanging goods and services.
D) competition among firms to make it easier for customers to purchase their products.
Answer: C
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10) Compared to an electronic payments system, a payments system based on checks has the major
drawback that
A) checks are less costly to process.
B) checks take longer to process, meaning that it may take several days before the depositor
can get her cash.
C) fraud may be more difficult to commit when paper receipts are eliminated.
D) legal liability is more clearly defined.
Answer: B
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11) Which of the following sequences accurately describes the evolution of the payments system?
A) Barter, coins made of precious metals, paper currency, checks, electronic funds transfers
B) Barter, coins made of precious metals, checks, paper currency, electronic funds transfers
C) Barter, checks, paper currency, coins made of precious metals, electronic funds transfers
D) Barter, checks, paper currency, electronic funds transfers
Answer: A
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12) During the past two decades an important characteristic of the modern payments system has
been the rapidly increasing use of
A) checks and decreasing use of currency.
B) electronic fund transfers.
C) commodity monies.
D) fiat money.
Answer: B
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13) Which of the following is not a form of e-money?
A) a debit card
B) a credit card
C) a stored-value card
D) a smart card
Answer: B
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14) A smart card is the equivalent of
A) cash.
B) savings bonds.
C) savings deposits.
D) certificates of deposit.
Answer: A
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15) An electronic payments system has not completely replaced the paper payments system because of all of the following reasons except
A) expensive equipment is necessary to set up the system.
B) security concerns.
C) privacy concerns.
D) transportation costs.
Answer: D
Ques Status: Revised
16) In explaining the evolution of money
A) government regulation is the most important factor.
B) commodity money, because it is valued more highly, tends to drive out paper money.
C) new forms of money evolve to lower transaction costs.
D) paper money is always backed by gold and therefore more desirable than checks.
Answer: C
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17) What factors have slowed down the movement to a system where all payments are made
electronically?
Answer: The equipment necessary to set up the system is expensive, security of the information,
and privacy concerns are issues that need to be addressed before an electronic payments
system will be widely accepted.
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