In times of trouble, people often look for easy answers. Fears and suspicions of ‘the other’ also increase. In the United States during periods of high unemployment, there is often a corresponding rise in anti-immigration legislation, hate crimes, and discrimination. How do these attitudes threaten groups of people? Democracy itself?

Which of the following best explains what market forces are? a. the properties of a free-market system that determine what the outcomes will be. b. the decisions of the government that decide what will be produced. c. the ways that producers coerce consumers into buying at the highest price possible. d. the laws that govern whether a producer will be able to buy low and sell high.