Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – October 16, 2018

The inverse relationship between unemployment rate and inflation when graphically charted is called the Phillips curve. William Phillips pioneered the concept first in his paper “The Relation between Unemployment and the Rate of Change of Money Wage Rates in the United Kingdom, 1861-1957,” in 1958. This theory is now proven for all major economies of the world. The theory states that the higher the rate of inflation, the lower the unemployment and vice-versa. Thus, high levels of employment can be achieved only at high levels of inflation. The policies to induce growth in an economy, increase in employment and sustained development are heavily dependent on the findings of the Phillips curve. The implications of Phillips curve have been found to be true only in the short term. Phillips curve fails to justify the situations of stagflation, when both inflation and unemployment are alarmingly high.

Statement 1 is correct. Economic Growth is single dimension Concept. It is merely a quantitative concept. It is concerned with rate of increase in national income.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Higher GDP growth may not always increase employment. Sometimes, unemployment remains stubbornly high even as the economy grows. This is known as jobless growth economy. This tends to happen when a relatively large number of people have lost their jobs and the ensuing recovery is insufficient to absorb the unemployed, under-employed and new members entering the workforce.

Statement 1 is correct. Petroleum coke or petcoke is one of the many consumer products produced during oil refining. During oil refining, the crude oil is first processed into various products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricating oils and waxes. After all these products have been created, a residual crude is further undergoes additional processing called “coking” to produce various fuels including pet coke.

Statement 2 is correct. Pet coke is used as a substitute for coal and has a higher heat content than coal.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Pet coke has more sulfur content than coal. Largest use of pet coke is in cement industry where 90% sulfur compounds are absorbed in clinker.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research issues ‘World Economic League Table’. The Centre for Economics and Business Research is an economics consultancy based in Britain. According to recently released report titled 2018 World Economic League Table, India is set to overtake the United Kingdom and France to become the world’s fifth largest economy in 2018.

India is member of SAARC. India is not a member of OPEC, ASEAN and TPP. OPEC: Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an intergovernmental organization of 14 nations accounted for an estimated 44 percent of global oil production and 73 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves. OPEC has 14 member countries: six in the Middle East (Western Asia), six in Africa, and two in South America. ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a regional grouping that promotes economic, political, and security cooperation among its ten members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Trans-Pacific Partnership: The Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP is a multilateral free-trade agreement currently under negotiation and designed to promote comprehensive economic integration among Pacific Rim countries. The TPP seeks to address multidimensional trade issues not included in traditional trade agreements, such as regulatory coherence and market liberalization to strengthen development and governance. TPP began its journey in 2005 when three countries viz. Chile, New Zealand and Singapore came together and created a free trade agreement called Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership or TPSEP. Later Brunei joined them and it was now also known as P4.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The KLIP envisages construction of barrage across Godavari River after the confluence by its tributary Pranahita near Madigadda village in Telangana’s Karimnag.

Statement 2 is correct. According to engineers, KLIP has many unique features, including the longest tunnel to carry water in Asia, running up to 81 km, between the Yellampally barrage and the Mallannasagar reservoir.

BND-4201 stands for Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya. It is India’s first home-grown high purity gold reference standard. The BND-4201 is reference material for gold of ‘9999’ fineness (gold that is 99.99% pure with impurities of only 100 parts-per-million). It has been developed through collaboration between IGM, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) — Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory (New Delhi) and National Centre for Compositional Characterisation of Materials (Hyderabad). It will be beneficial to the consumers and public at large to ensure purity of gold.