Economics Interview Questions - 2012 Selection!

These are not the real thing! But here is a selection of the questions that I have been throwing at some of my students preparing for Economics & Management and Economics interviews over the last few days! I hope you find them interesting!

1. Many non-economists are inclined to blame economics for the mess we’re in - are they right?
   
2. How valid is the idea of diminishing returns in the short run production function for internet businesses?
   
3. Should the Bank of England now start to raise interest rates in a bid to boost aggregate demand?
   
4. Interest rates – or yields - on ten year bonds issued by the UK government are at the lowest level since 1703. Over the summer yields on German and Swiss two year bonds turned negative. What explains such low bond yields?
   
5. How important is ecology and psychology in understanding economic growth?
   
6. Which economic concepts or ideas have you found counter-intuitive and why?
   
7. What is the difference between a leader and a manger?
   
8. The Romans forced engineers to sleep under a bridge once it was completed. Should managers of businesses fund losses of failed corporate investment projects?
   
9. Small is beautiful, but it is also efficient - why is government and business so obsessed by economies of scale?
   
10. To help recovery, the focus should be on debt and leverage in the economy and turning instead to equity financing. Discuss
    
11. In the long run, bailing out people is less harmful to the economy than bailing out businesses - discuss
    
12. Which is more significant for the wealth of nations - invention or innovation?
    
13. Who are the principle beneficiaries of innovation? Inventors? Shareholders? Or Consumers?
    
14. Across the western world policymakers are searching for ideas on how to raise growth rates - what would you suggest to them?
    
15. Despite a deep downturn corporate insolvencies have remained remarkably low in recent years - is good management the reason?
    
16. Some economists believe that recessions clear out unproductive capacity and create space for new, more efficient companies - do you agree?