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Sometimes it helps if investors are gloomy
Test 4 1. ___ rice, wheat, corn, legumes, cotton, conifers, and tobacco are____ items on which____ whole econ A ___ , the, the B The, ___ , ___ C The, the, the 2. ___ tiger lives in Asia and belongs to_____ same genus as ___ lion, leopard, and jaguar. A The, the, the C____ , the, ___ B A, ___ , a D The, ___ , ___ 3. ___ most of financial activities are crowded along____ Threadneedle Street. A The, the C____ , ___ B The, _____________ D ___ , the 4. The intersection is known as __ Bank, which in A the, the, the, the C ___ , the, ___ , ___ D the, ___ , the ___
such large department stores as _____ Selfridges, ____ John Lewis, and____ Marks and Spencer are located. A ___ , ___ , ___ , ___ B the, the, the, the C ___ , ___ , the, the D the, the, ___ , ___ 6. ___ East End, beyond_____ City of London and___ Tower, has long been_____ home of London's docks and immigrants. A The, the____ ,___ C The, the, the, the B ___ ,___ , the, the D The, __ , ___ , ___ 7. ___ centre of this educational establishment is__ University of London in___ Bloomsbury, founded in 1836. A The, ___ , the C____ , the, ___ B The, the, ___ D____ , ___ , the 8. It is made up of____ number of colleges, schools, and attached institutes, which range from______ Lon King's College and several medical schools. A the, ___ , __________ C a, ___ , ___ B a, the, the D the, ___ , the 9. With____ average elevation of more than 4000 m, Tibet is the highest region on__ earth sometimes called___ Roof of____ World. A ___ , the, the, the B the, ___ , ___ , ___ C an, the, ___ , the D an, ___ , the, the 10._ apple, peach, pear, and apricot trees are culti A ___ , the C____ , ___ B The, ___ D The, the 11._ musk deer, wild sheep,_______ wild goats, wild don in mountainous areas. A ___ , ___ , _________ C The, the, the B A, ___ , ___ D The, ___ , the 12. On___ typical summer day, the temperature can rise from 3°C before____ sunrise to 27°C by____ midday. A the, the, the C the, ___ , ___ B a, ___ , ___________ D a, the, the 13.___ most common material for rugs and carpets has traditionally been____ sheep's wool, although in cer A The, the, the C____ , the, the B The, ___ , ___ D____ , ___ , ___ 14. At the end of the 16th century the first explorers of ___ South Seas mapped____ southern sky, which was largely unknown to____ ancients. A ___ , the, ___ C the, the, the B ___ , a, the D the, ___ , ___ 15. During____ Renaissance, people thought that their own age and ___ time of____ ancient Greece and Rome were advanced and civilized. A the, the, the C the, the, ___ B ___ , ___ , _________ D ___ , the, ___
of the monks' prayers echoed from one end of the A ___ , the other C the, another B the, other D____ , others Tests | 1. ___ East End has frequently been characterized by____ poverty, crime, and slums. A The, the C____ , ___ B The, ___ D____ , the 2. The church calendar includes the fixed feasts, such as A the, the, the C____ , ___ , ___ B ___ , the, ___ D the, ___ , the 3. In 1722 several thousand Polynesians inhabited the island, but___ diseases and raids by slave traders reduced___ number to fewer than 200 by___ late 19th century. A the, the, ___ C____ , the, ___ B the, a, the D____ , the, the 4. The island was named by___ Dutch explorer who landed here on____ Easter Day in 1722. A the, ______________ C the, the B a, ___ D the, an 5. Born in Salinas, California, Steinbeck was educated at___ Stanford University. As____ youth, he worked as____ ranch hand and fruit picker. A ___ , a, a C the, the, the B the, ___ , __________ D ___ , ___ , a 6. ___ pearl is_____ abnormal growth resulting from the invasion of the body of the mollusk by _ minute particle of foreign matter, such as _____ fine grain of sand. A The, an, a, a C____ , the, ___ , the B A, ___ , the, ___ D The, an, the, the 7. ___ jade has always been prized by_____ Chinese and Japanese as____ most precious of all_____ stones. A The, the, the, the C The, __ , the, ___ B ___ ,___ ,___ , the D ____ , the, the, ___ 8. Sir Henry Morgan is said to have been kidnapped at Bristol when___ boy and sold as____ servant on____ West Indian island of Barbados. A ___ , ___ , ___ C the, the, ___ B a, a, the D a, the, a 9. wealth acquired from___ trade enabled_________ up A The, the, the, the C__ , ___ , the, ___ B ___ , ___ , the, the D The, the, __ , ___ 10.____ cotton is still a principal raw material for __ world's textile industry, but its dominant position has A The, the, the C The, ___ , ___ B ___ , ___ the D ___ , the, ___ 11.____ American inventors Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell applied for____ patent on____ telephone on the same day. A The, a, the C____ , a, a B ___ , the, the D The, the, ___
jewelry. A The, the, _________ C____ , a, ___ B ___ , the, the D The, a, the 13.____ porcelain was____ first made by____ Chinese. A The, ___ , the C____ , ___ , the B The, the, ___ D____ , the, ___ 14.___ gold is extremely inactive. It is unaffected by____ air, heat, moisture, and__ most solvents. A ___ , ___ , the B The, the, ___ C____ , ___ , ___ D The, ___ , ___ 15.____ optical phenomena, such as rainbows and halos, occur when____ light shines through cloud particles. A ___ , ______________ C The, the B The, _____________ D____ , the 16.____ stone picked up by____ child on the banks of ___ Orange River in____ South Africa in 1866 was a big diamond. A ___ , a, the, the B A, a, ___ , ___ C____ , the, ___ , the D A, a, the, ___ 17. E-mail and________ Internet are____ latest technolo A ___ ,___ ,___ , the B ___ , the, the, ___ C The, the, the, ___
Sometimes it helps if investors are gloomy Jan 28th 2012 |From the print edition BARELY a week goes by without a report on the level of confidence among consumers, businesspeople and investors. Optimism is what's wanted—Keynes talked of the “animal spirits” that influence economic activity. Pessimists are routinely denounced as Jeremiahs. Those who try to bet on falling prices find their activities are restricted. A cheery disposition may be necessary for societies to function. Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist and Nobel economics laureate, has a chapter in his book “Thinking Fast and Slow” which describes overconfidence as “the engine of capitalism”. No entrepreneur can be sure that his planned investment will succeed but if no one took a risk, new products and jobs would never be created. A certain blindness to the odds may be necessary. According to Mr Kahneman, the chances of an American small business surviving for five years are just 35%. But ask individual entrepreneurs about their prospects and 81% think they have a better than seven-in-ten chance of success. This self-confidence may be innate, just as most people think they are better-than-average drivers. And it would seem logical that the most optimistic people gravitate towards entrepreneurship. That is good for consumers, who can select from a wider variety of products. Even the failed businesses serve a purpose. Daniel Gross, a journalist, wrote a book claiming that bubbles were good for economies since they leave behind infrastructure (canals, railways, fibre-optic cable) that can last for generations. But it is hard to make such a case for all bubbles. Anyone who has driven past a row of empty houses in the Irish countryside will realise that optimism can lead to wasteful investment. And Mr Kahneman cites studies that show how overoptimistic chief executives (as measured by the amount of stock they own) were more likely to gear up their balance-sheets and pay too much for acquisitions. The problem with overoptimism was illustrated by the investment-bank collapses of 2008. The men who reached the top of such risk-taking organisations had, by definition, been successful in their previous bets. They believed this was due to skill, not luck, making them too sanguine about their ability to ride out the crisis. A further problem with optimism is thus that it is pro-cyclical. The greatest moment of success for optimists will occur at the peak of a boom, when they will feel their instincts have been justified. Previous house-price rises will make buyers more optimistic about borrowing more money; and banks will be more optimistic about the prospect of being repaid. Financial assets are highly unusual in that rising prices tend to elicit higher demand. Analysts extrapolate recent rapid profits growth into the future, even though profits cannot rise faster than GDP indefinitely. If markets were truly efficient, price-earnings ratios should be lower than average at the top of the cycle, since investors should anticipate a reversion to the mean. Instead, high p/e ratios and rapid profits growth tend to go together. It used to be the role of central bankers to take away the punchbowl when the party was in full swing. Under Alan Greenspan, however, the Federal Reserve ended up spiking the punch with more rum by cutting rates whenever markets wobbled. The hope is that in future central banks will keep an eye on asset bubbles under the guise of “macroprudential” policy. This might involve the use of broader measures than just interest rates. For example, the Fed could pop housing bubbles by imposing a maximum loan-to-value ratio for mortgages. But what if the bubble this time is in government bonds, not equities? The last time long-term Treasury bonds yielded 2.1% was in 1949. Investors who took the plunge into Treasuries then earned an annual negative real return of 1.6% over the following 30 years. On this occasion, however, the central bank is one of the main purchasers of Treasury bonds in an effort to keep yields low. Such low yields could be attributed to optimism that American politicians will agree on a long-term plan to sort out the government's finances. But it seems likely that the main driver is pessimism about the outlook for other asset classes. In this case the gloom seems entirely beneficial. Low rates stimulate the economy and are good news for the American government, which can finance its deficit cheaply and without facing the dilemmas that beset the Italian and Spanish governments, which must impose austerity at a time of economic slowdown. But the pessimists can't expect to be thanked. Economist.com/blogs/buttonwood From the print edition: Finance and economics
Date: 2014-12-29; view: 1947
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