Start of Year General Knowledge Quiz

I jotted down a few economics and business news questions for my new groups this morning and was pleasantly surprised at how many of my new economists within the facebook generation got pretty close to the answers in many cases .... anyway here they are with the answers in parenthesis

1/ At Tesco in Slough - which costs more a litre of diesel or a litre of the sports drink gatorade? (A: Gatorade - just! Diesel is priced at £1.25 a litre and 4 x 500 ml bottles of gatorade are selling for £2.50 - special offer!) This led into a brief discussion about costs of supply / willingness to pay.

2/ In July a High Court judge ruled that Pringles, the popular snack food in a tube, were not potato crisps - why does this crunch decision save the makers of Pringles millions of pounds - (A) As a result, Pringles, in all flavours are free from Value Added Tax (VAT). Story link

3/ What is the biggest single cost for General Motors for each of the vehicles that it produces? (A: Health care for GM employees which adds between $1000 and $1200 to the cost of each car) Story link

4/ What was the average price paid by people who bought the “pay as much as you like” album released by Radiohead last November? (A: £2.90 - this average excludes those who downloaded for free) - story link

5/ To the nearest dollar, what is the current price of crude oil on the world oil markets? (A: $108) Story link

6/ To the nearest euro, what how many euros can you get for £100? (A: Euro 123) - story link

7/ What is the name of the tax on the value of housing transactions that the government has announced will be cut for one year? (A: Stamp Duty) - story link

8/ What does IMF stand for? (A: International Monetary Fund)

9/ Who or what are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? (A: US mortgage organisations in big trouble because of exposure to sub-prime and the US housing slump) - story link

10/ Which type of meat has become so popular in Cambodia that its price has quadrupled in the past year? (A: Rat) - story link