Before Bank Underground goes off on its Christmas holidays, it’s time for the Annual Bank Underground Christmas Quiz! We hope you enjoy testing your knowledge on our festive themed questions on economics, finance and all things central banking…
1) Why did the 2008 Financial Crisis push up the price of Christmas Trees in 2020?
Many Christmas Tree farms went out of business in the 2008/9 recession, causing a fall in supply which only affected the market 10+ years later when trees grew to full size.
Correct. Many Christmas Tree farms went out of business in the 2008/9 recession. See: “Blame the Financial Crisis for more expensive Christmas trees”
Post-crisis regulatory reforms in 2009 stopped the Christmas Tree futures market at windows longer than 10 years, making suppliers unable to hedge price uncertainty, pushing up their costs.
Incorrect
Temporary stimulus enacted by Nordic governments in 2009 to subsidise Christmas tree growers stopped after a ten year sunset clause expired.
Incorrect
Due to a clerical error, Lehman Brothers creditors accidently executed a Christmas Tree futures contract for 2020 delivery, acquiring trees which they were unable to sell for legal reasons.
Incorrect
2) Which of the following financially-named songs made it to number one in the UK charts?
Money, Money, Money by ABBA
Incorrect
Price Tag by Jessie J
Correct. See the Guardian’s article “Price Tag by Jessie J. for more…
Penny Lane by The Beatles
Incorrect
Gold by Spandau Ballet
Incorrect
3) Which country is the world’s largest exporter of Brussels Sprouts?
The Netherlands
Correct. The Netherlands. See: “Top Brussels Sprouts Exports by Country
Belgium
Incorrect
UK
Incorrect
Portugal
Incorrect
4) This Christmas is Andrew Bailey’s first as Governor of the Bank of England. How many Governors has the Bank had before him?
45
Incorrect
120
Correct. See “Governors of the Bank of England.
80
Incorrect
95
Incorrect
5) Which footballer with a currency-related name has gained the most international caps?
(Swiss) Franc(k) Ribery
Correct. Franc Ribery.
(Peruvian) Sol Campbell
Incorrect
Raheem (Pound) Sterling
Incorrect
(Bulgarian) Lev Yashin
Incorrect
6) Which model can be used to explain Christmas tree pricing, according to Vukina et al. (2000)?
Von Neumann-Morgenstern
Incorrect
Milgrom-Wilson
Incorrect
Black-Scholes
Incorrect
Hotelling-Faustmann
Correct. Hotelling-Faustmann. See their paper in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics
7) Which 2018 Christmas film featured scenes of the Bank of England, and an appropriately-named family?
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding
Incorrect
The Grinch
Incorrect
Mary Poppins Returns
Correct. Mary Poppins Returns
London Fields
Incorrect
8) Which Master of the Royal Mint was born on Christmas Day?
George Eden
Incorrect
Isaac Newton
Correct. Isaac Newton
Justin Trudeau
Incorrect
James Abercromby
Incorrect
9) What currency do residents of Christmas Island use to do their Christmas shopping?
Australian dollars
Correct. See about the currency of Christmas Island here
US dollars
Incorrect
Pounds sterling
Incorrect
Malaysian Ringgit
Incorrect
10) In which card game (a favourite of secret agent James Bond) do players compete against a bank, leading to declarations such as “neuf à la banque”?
Baccarat
Correct
Cribbage
Incorrect
Diplomat
Incorrect
Eurche
Incorrect
11) Here are four literary characters with a currency-like name, but which one is correctly spelled?
Euros Holmes, sister of the famous Sherlock
Incorrect
Lira Belacqua, heroine of the Northern Lights trilogy
Incorrect
Sergeant Fred Colon in the Discworld novels
Correct
Dong Quixote, from Cervantes’ classic novel
Incorrect
12) The Christmas tree was introduced to the UK by the wife of which King George?
George I
Incorrect
George II
Incorrect
George III
Correct. George III
George IV
Incorrect
Loved the Christmas Quiz. I found your first question extremely interesting since that is a question I asked at the local Christmas Tree Farm, since many places either increased their prices or had poor selection of trees or were not selling this year. But, like many products, as we get closer to Christmas I noticed one large seller of trees drop their price from $50 to $20 a tree, buyer’s resisted the higher price.
Happy Christmas and New Year to ALL
Are Christmas trees present in the basket of consumer goods used to define the Consumer Price Index (CPI)?
I ask because here in US, if it is, the Fed should then perhaps prepare itself for a big jump in the inflation rate.
https://teawithft.blogspot.com/2020/08/inflation-has-already-returned.html
Sorry, I think its Euchre, not Eurche? Great game I grew up on.
This is an outstanding post that’s filled with so many useful nuggets. Thank you for being so detailed on The Bank Underground Christmas.