The answers for the Bank Underground Christmas Quiz are:
Q1: Which of these central banks is the longest straight-line sleigh ride from the North Pole?
Answer: b) The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is the farthest South and hence the longest distance from the North Pole
Q2: In which year did Abbey change its name to Santander?
Answer: d) 2010 was the year when Abbey was renamed.
Q3: Since 2000, which of these manufacturing sectors has, on average, seen the largest fall in (non-seasonally adjusted) production between November and December?
Answer: d) Manufacture of motor vehicles- where monthly output falls on average by 22% between November and December
Q4: Approximately how many Israeli shekels would Mary and Joseph receive for a 400 troy ounce gold bar at today’s prices and exchange rates?
Answer: c) 1.5 million is the closest. $1063 per troy ounce x 400 ounces x 3.85 shekels per dollar = 1,637,020 shekels
Q5: What, according to Peter Kennedy’s 2003 Econometrics textbook, Granger causes Christmas?
Answer: a) Kennedy states that Christmas Cards “Granger cause” Christmas. (page 74)
Q6: Which retail sector gets the biggest boost in sales at Christmas relative to the other 11 months of the year?
Answer: c) Clothing gets the biggest boost. Monthly turnover is on average 61% higher than the rest of the year
Q7: How many stock markets in the BRICs countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) will be open on 25th December?
Answer: b) 2. The Indian and Brazilian stock markets are shut. But bourses remain open in China on 25th December, and in Russia, where the Christmas closure is for the Orthodox Christmas which falls in January.
Q8: In the film It’s a Wonderful Life, what happens to Bailey Building and Loan Association on Christmas Eve?
Answer: a) The guardian angel arrives on Christmas Eve.
Q9: Joel Waldfogel’s 1983 paper in the American Economic Review on the deadweight loss of Christmas found that, on average, gift recipients valued their presents at less than their cash value. What was the upper bound of this valuation gap?
Answer: c) Waldfogel estimates that the average recipient values their gift at up to a third less than the giver does.
Q10: According to a Homer and Sylla’, A History of Interest Rates, what was the legal maximum rate on loans in the Roman provinces of Asia in the first century AD?
Answer: d) The legal limit on loans was set at 12%, according to Homer and Sylla’s book.