Logical reasoning PrepTest 156 · Section 2 · Question 20

Question prompt

Economist: When national governments Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Strategy Overview

Argument or facts? Always an argument, so identify the conclusion and premises Identify gap between premises and conclusion Anticipate, and diagram, the principle that will strengthen the argument
Should resemble: "Premise → Conclusion" or "NOT Conclusion → NOT Premise"

Answer Anticipation

This question stem asks us to select an answer choice that applies the same proposition (or principle) illustrated by the economist's argument. This is a Principle (Parallel) question, the rarest of the Principle questions. To answer this question, we'll first employ the strategy we'd use on a Principle (Strengthen) question to identify the principle that connects the passage's premises to its conclusion. To do that, we usually just have to identify the premises and conclusion and then anticipate a principle that looks like "Premises → Conclusion." The economist's premise establishes that when national governments fund local government projects, the local governments that create more projects than others will receive a higher percentage of the funds. The economist's conclusion asserts this funding system incentivizes local governments to create more projects, increasing government spending and taxation. So, a principle that looks like "Premises → Conclusion" will connect the economist's premise to the conclusion, often in much more general terms than those used in the argument. So, we'll look for an "if-then" statement that says that if a system incentivizes institutions to create more work, then that extra work will be more costly. In other words, the principle we're looking for is "Incentivizes more work → Costs more." Next, we'll use that principle to employ the strategy we'd use on a Principle (Must Be True) question. We'll look for an answer choice that follows the same line of reasoning as the passage. In most cases, the correct answer will present the "if" condition of the principle as a premise and conclude that the "then" condition is true. An argument that does that will apply the principle illustrated by the economist's argument.

Answer choices

  1. A
    A large company invests Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    This doesn't illustrate the same principle as the economist's argument. We're looking for a situation in which a system incentivizes more work, but that additional work creates higher costs. In this case, small companies have to band together to invest in new technology at the level that large companies do. It's unclear whether this creates more work for the small companies or whether the small companies' costs increase. So, we can cross (A) off.

  2. B
    A national government finances Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    This doesn't illustrate the same principle as the economist's argument. We're looking for a situation where a system rewards more work, but that additional work creates higher costs. In this case, a national government's funding lowers consumer prices but hurts some farmers. It's unclear whether this creates more work for the farmers or whether costs increase overall. Therefore, we can eliminate (B).

  3. C
    A sales manager offers Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    This illustrates the principle underlying the economist's argument. We're looking for a situation where a system rewards more work, but that additional work creates higher costs. The sales manager's system incentivizes more work for the sales staff — they are rewarded for selling the most product. However, this additional work creates higher costs for the company. The sales staff undercut each other, lowering profits for the company. The lost profits can be thought of as a "cost" the company must bear, so (C) matches the principle implicit in the economist's argument. Therefore, we can select (C) and give the remaining choices a cursory reading.

  4. D
    People pool their money Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    This doesn't illustrate the principle implied by the economist's argument. We're looking for a system that incentivizes more work, ultimately increasing overall costs. In this case, people pool their money to buy groceries at a lower price. It's unclear whether this creates more work for the people. Even if we assume that it does, this doesn't create higher costs for the people. They eat more, but they ultimately spend "the same amount of money on food" as they did before they pooled their money together. So, we can cross off (D).

  5. E
    Several communities band together Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    This doesn't illustrate the same principle as the economist's argument. We're looking for a system that incentivizes more work and increases overall costs. In this case, it's unclear whether any "system" incentivizes these communities to build the conference center (maybe capitalism since these communities want the revenue the center will bring?). But even if this system is incentivizing more work, it isn't increasing overall costs for the community. The communities fight and the project "nearly collapses," but the answer choice doesn't say or imply that this increases costs for the communities. So, we can cross (E) off.

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 11%
  2. B 14%
  3. C Credited 52%
  4. D 18%
  5. E 5%

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