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Chapter 2: Measuring Harm Quiz

Test your understanding of harm measurement frameworks, DALYs, externalities, and comparative industry analysis.

1. What is a DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Year)?

  1. A measure of corporate profitability
  2. A metric combining years of life lost due to premature death and years lived with disability
  3. The number of days a worker misses due to illness
  4. A calculation of annual healthcare spending
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. A DALY is a universal metric that combines years of life lost due to premature death (YLL) with years lived with disability (YLD). One DALY equals one year of healthy life lost, allowing us to compare different types of harm on a common scale.

Concept Tested: DALYs (Disability-Adjusted Life Years)

See: DALYs: The Currency of Health Harm

2. What are externalities in economic terms?

  1. Costs included in a product's market price
  2. Profits that companies share with the community
  3. Costs or benefits affecting parties not directly involved in a transaction
  4. Taxes collected by the government on products
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Externalities are costs or benefits that affect parties not directly involved in a transaction. When a factory pollutes and neighbors get sick, those health costs are externalities because the factory doesn't pay for them—society does.

Concept Tested: Externalities

See: Externalities

3. What is the "true cost" of a product?

  1. The retail price after discounts
  2. The manufacturing cost plus shipping
  3. Market price plus all externalized costs (environmental, health, social)
  4. The wholesale price before markup
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. The true cost of a product includes the market price plus all externalized costs such as environmental cleanup, healthcare costs from pollution exposure, social costs from labor exploitation, and other hidden costs that society—not the producer—pays.

Concept Tested: True Cost Accounting

See: True Cost Accounting

4. Which of the following is an example of social cost accounting?

  1. Calculating a company's quarterly profit margin
  2. Measuring the societal costs of an industry including healthcare, environmental damage, and lost productivity
  3. Counting the number of employees at a company
  4. Tracking stock market performance
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Social cost accounting attempts to quantify all the costs an industry imposes on society, including healthcare costs from products, environmental cleanup costs, lost productivity from illness, emergency response costs, and social services burdens.

Concept Tested: Social Cost Accounting

See: Social Cost Accounting

5. Why is mortality rate alone insufficient for measuring harm?

  1. Deaths are too hard to count accurately
  2. It ignores disability, chronic illness, and reduced quality of life
  3. Mortality rate is always zero for ethical industries
  4. Death is not considered a significant harm
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Mortality rate captures deaths but misses non-fatal harms like chronic pain, disability, reduced mobility, mental illness, and diminished quality of life. A product might not kill anyone but could cause millions to live with chronic suffering.

Concept Tested: Mortality Rate Limitations

See: Multi-Dimensional Harm Assessment

6. What is a harm scorecard used for?

  1. Ranking industries by their revenue
  2. Comparing multiple industries across standardized harm dimensions
  3. Calculating individual employee performance
  4. Measuring customer satisfaction
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. A harm scorecard is a structured framework for comparing industries across multiple harm dimensions including mortality, morbidity, environmental impact, economic burden, and social disruption—all using comparable metrics.

Concept Tested: Harm Scorecards

See: Building a Harm Scorecard

7. Which of the following is considered an economic harm metric?

  1. Premature deaths per year
  2. Species extinction rate
  3. Lost productivity and healthcare costs
  4. Community displacement statistics
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Economic harm metrics include direct costs (healthcare, property damage), indirect costs (lost productivity, reduced economic activity), and intergenerational costs (inherited debts, foreclosed opportunities). Lost productivity and healthcare costs are prime examples of economic burden.

Concept Tested: Economic Harm Measurement

See: Economic Burden: Counting the Costs

8. What is life-cycle analysis in harm measurement?

  1. Analyzing only the end-of-life disposal phase
  2. Measuring harm across a product's entire journey from raw materials to disposal
  3. Calculating the average human lifespan affected by a product
  4. Evaluating only the manufacturing stage
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Life-cycle analysis examines harm across a product's entire journey: raw material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, consumer use, and end-of-life disposal. Each stage may have distinct environmental and social impacts.

Concept Tested: Life-Cycle Analysis

See: Life-Cycle Analysis

9. When comparing industry harms, why is normalization important?

  1. It makes all industries appear equally harmful
  2. It ensures we only compare similar-sized industries
  3. It creates comparable metrics like "DALYs per dollar of revenue" to account for industry size
  4. It eliminates the need to collect actual data
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Normalization creates comparable metrics by accounting for industry size. "DALYs per dollar of revenue" or "deaths per employee" allow fair comparison between a giant industry and a smaller one, revealing which truly causes more harm relative to its economic activity.

Concept Tested: Normalization for Comparison

See: Making Industries Comparable

10. According to the chapter, what are the five key dimensions in a comprehensive harm scorecard?

  1. Revenue, profit, growth, market share, and stock price
  2. Mortality, morbidity, environmental impact, economic burden, and social disruption
  3. Quality, cost, delivery, safety, and morale
  4. Input, process, output, outcome, and impact
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. A comprehensive harm scorecard assesses five key dimensions: mortality (deaths), morbidity (disability and chronic illness), environmental impact (ecosystem damage), economic burden (costs to society), and social disruption (community and relationship impacts).

Concept Tested: Harm Scorecard Framework

See: Building a Harm Scorecard