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UPSC CSAT Tough Reading Comprehension 12 — When Good Intentions Create Bad Incentives

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Sample Questions from UPSC CSAT Tough Reading Comprehension 12 — When Good Intentions Create Bad Incentives

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Q1. Which one of the following best expresses the central argument of the passage?

A. Public policies should be judged mainly by the intentions of policymakers because outcomes are often unpredictable.

B. Policies should be evaluated by how the incentives they create shape behaviour and whether those behavioural responses remain consistent with the policy's deeper objectives.

C. Material incentives are the only reliable explanation of human behaviour in public institutions.

D. Unintended consequences are unavoidable, so governments should intervene as little as possible.

Q2. Why does the author state that an unintended consequence is not necessarily evidence of selfishness or dishonesty?

A. Because people may rationally adjust their behaviour when a policy changes the consequences attached to different choices.

B. Because individuals are generally unaware that policies are intended to influence their behaviour.

C. Because government policies rarely produce measurable changes in behaviour.

D. Because policymakers normally expect citizens to ignore economic incentives.

Q3. Which one of the following assumptions is most essential to the author's argument?

A. Individuals may change their behaviour in response to changes in rewards, costs and constraints.

B. Every public policy ultimately produces consequences opposite to those intended.

C. Policymakers usually understand all possible behavioural responses before implementing a programme.

D. Material rewards are more powerful than social norms in every situation.

Q4. With reference to the passage, consider the following statements: 1. A policy may improve its immediate target while weakening its broader objective. 2. Behavioural responses to policy incentives are always impossible to anticipate. 3. Adding more regulations can sometimes create new opportunities for strategic behaviour. 4. Human behaviour is influenced only by material rewards and penalties. Which of the statements given above are consistent with the passage?

A. 1 and 2 only

B. 1 and 3 only

C. 1, 2 and 3 only

D. 1, 3 and 4 only

Q5. What is the principal purpose of the example involving local administrators rewarded according to the number of people placed in jobs?

A. To show that employment programmes are inherently ineffective.

B. To illustrate how turning a performance measure into a target can encourage behaviour that improves the statistic more than the underlying objective.

C. To prove that administrators deliberately falsify employment records whenever bonuses are offered.

D. To demonstrate that short-term employment is always economically harmful.

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