PrepTest 106

[lcid:3523] Prep Test 106 LSAT — Reading Comp — S4 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 14-21  .        Recently, a new school of economics called steady–  . state economics has seriously challenged neoclassical  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Steady-state economics, a new school of economic thought, offers an alternative to neoclassical economics
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Neoclassical economics: dominates Western economic thought
      • Holds that economy is a closed system with no noneconomic constraints (second - third sentences)
      • Growth is limitless (third sentence)
      • Growth is crucial to eliminating economic problems that arise (fourth sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “seriously challenged” (first sentence); “reigning school” (first sentence); “circular flow” (second sentence); “no noneconomic constraints” (third sentence); “some argue “ (fourth sentence); “they claim” (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Steady-state economics holds that economy is limited by natural resources and has an optimal size
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Natural resources enter and exit economy; economy grows, stagnates, or shrinks depending on availability of resources (second sentence)
    • Because natural resources are limited, there is an optimal size to the economy beyond which cost to nature is greater than benefit to people (third sentence)
    • Economy should be maintained in equilibrium with nature (fourth sentence)
    • Neoclassical economists hold that, if natural resources are depleted, human-made resources can be substituted (fifth sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “unrealistic” (first sentence); “they argue” (second sentence); “nature’s limited capacity” (third sentence); “optimal size” (third sentence); “dangerous” (fourth sentence); “only alternative” (fourth sentence); “equilibrium with nature” (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Steady-state economists propose that conservation can be used to satisfy human wants without using more natural resources
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Steady-state economists:
      • Disparity b/w monetary value of goods/services and sustainable personal consumption (first sentence)
      • Western economies already larger than optimal size (first sentence)
        • End economic growth by using conservation (second-third sentence)
        • Conservation through recycling is still qualitative growth; is not quantitative (fourth sentence)
      • Successful steady-state economy will conserve without growth, while still meeting human wants (fifth sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “widening disparity” (first sentence); “already exceeded” (first sentence); “alternatives to growth” (second sentence); “differs from growth in that it is qualitative, not quantitative” (fourth sentence); “success of a steady-state economy” (fifth sentence)

Main Point: Steady-state economics, which holds that Western economies are limited by nature and should opt to conserve rather than grow white still satisfying human wants, presents an alternative to neoclassical economics, which holds that economies are not limited by nature and should aim to grow as much as possible.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 (P1 S1) - Steady-state vs. neoclassical economics

P2 S4 - Steady state economists: economy must be in equilibrium with nature

P3 S1 - SS economists: Western economies already larger than they should be

P3 S4 - SS economists: conserve resources rather than grow economy

Meta-Structure?

Describing a Debate: This passage highlights the points at which steady-state economic thinking and neoclassical economic thinking clash, principally, the degree to which Western economies are limited by natural resources and the optimal goal of economic activity (growth vs. conservation/recycling). The author of the passage first summarizes neoclassical economic thinking. According to neoclassicists, the economy is not limited by any noneconomic factors, and the major goal of participants in the economy should be to maximize growth. The author then lays out the steady-state economic model: the economy is limited by the availability of natural resources and Western economies have already grown beyond their optimal size. Thus, peoples’ economic goal should be to conserve resources by recycling rather than to use more natural resources because nature can’t replenish them as fast as humans use them.

The debate, then, is this: neoclassicists say that the economy is not too big and it should continue to grow while steady-staters say the economy is too big and should not continue to grow. The reason steady-staters give for their position is that natural resources are being depleted too fast.

The minor Meta-Structure used in this passage is Comparison. The author is continually comparing neoclassical economics with steady-state economics; indeed, it is the contrast with neoclassical economics that helps give steady-state economics its character.

The author’s own position is hinted at throughout the passage and particularly in P3 S5, where the author implies that it is possible to conserve resources by recycling and still to satisfy human wants, thus proving that an economy can be considered successful, even in a steady (or stagnant) state. However, these hints are not enough to tip this passage over into the “Resolving a Debate” Meta-Structure, because the author does not explicitly take a side in the debate or try to reconcile the two sides of the issue.

Last Thoughts?

This passage can be thought of as a bit of a hybrid, or a Resolving a Debate Plus. The “plus” is the hint that the author gives as to their perspective in P2 S4 (referring to the neoclassical model as “dangerous” and asserting that living in harmony with nature is the “only alternative” to the current model) and P3 S4 (referring to the fact that conservation constitutes qualitative rather than quantitative progress and leads to increased efficiency of resource use). Though all of these references are ostensibly the author referring to the views of steady-state economists rather than giving their own opinion, the language is strong, especially the word “dangerous,” and it is possible to infer that the author inclines to the steady-state model. We can be even more sure of this when we remember that in P1 S1, the author said that steady-state economics “seriously challenged” neoclassical economics.

That said, the author’s opinion is not explicit enough to reclassify this passage as either Resolving a Debate or Old Approach/New Approach.

Question prompt

In the view of 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.

Question Type

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Refer to notes or what you highlighted/underlined to locate where the passage discusses the views of steady-state economists about noneconomic constraints, and refer to the relevant part of the passage as needed to find that answer choice that must be true.

Answer Anticipation

For questions that ask us to find a specific detail mentioned in the passage, quickly finding and reviewing that piece of information is paramount. That is why we make brief notes describing the role of each paragraph and highlight or underline definitions and the minor Meta-Structures — doing so helps us find the salient information efficiently and reliably. Once we review that part of the passage, we can look through the answer choices to see which one is best supported by what we reviewed.Here, the question asks about what a steady-state economist would consider to be a noneconomic constraint and gives us a reference of P1 S3. This sentence states that neoclassicists believe that no “noneconomic constraints” impinge on the economy. Shortly thereafter, in P2 S1-3, the passage discusses steady-state economists’ belief that the economy is constrained by nature and its ability to generate the resources that drive economic growth. In this contrast between the unconstrained neoclassical economy and the constrained steady-state economy, we find the general topic we should look for in the answer choices: something having to do with nature. It is nature that the neoclassicists believe is not a constraint on the economy, and it is nature that the steady-staters believe is a constraint on the economy.

Answer choices

  1. A
    the total amount of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this answer choice match our anticipation (a topic related to nature)?

    No. This answer choice posits that the total amount of human wants is a noneconomic constraint, according to steady-state economists. The passage does not mention that either neoclassicists or steady-staters consider the total amount of human wants to be a noneconomic constraint on the economy.

    This is not the right answer choice.

  2. B
    the index of environmentally Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this answer choice match our anticipation (a topic related to nature)?

    Not quite. This answer choice is closer to what we would expect, because it mentions the environment and sustainability, but in P2 S1-3, the passage states that it is nature itself that constrains the economy, not the index of environmentally sustainable growth, which is simply a measurement of personal consumption taking into account depletion of raw materials and production costs (P3 S1). Steady-state economists use the disparity between the index of environmentally sustainable growth and the indices of actual growth to measure how much nature is being stretched to sustain growth and how far in excess of their optimal size Western economies are (P3 S1), but the index itself is not considered a constraint on the economy, in the view of steady-state economists.

    This is not the right answer choice.

  3. C
    the capacity of nature Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) Does this answer choice match our anticipation (a topic related to nature)?

    Yes. This answer choice appears in P2 S3, which states that nature has a limited capacity to regenerate raw material and absorb waste, two activities that steady-state economists consider are essential to continuing economic growth. If nature’s capacity to do either of these things drops or slows, that fact will seriously impinge on economic activity, as shown by the disparity that steady-state economists point out between the indices of actual economic growth and the index of environmentally sustainable growth (P3 S1). Thus, steady-staters consider nature’s ability to absorb waste to be a noneconomic constraint on the economy.

  4. D
    the problems associated with Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this answer choice match our anticipation (a topic related to nature)?

    No. The phrase “problems often associated with economic growth” appears once in the passage, in P1 S4 during the discussion of the neoclassical economic model, and the example of such problems that the author gives is income inequity. The passage does not mention problems associated with growth in terms of the steady-state economists’ argument, nor does it mention income inequity again. The predominant issue that the steady-state economists are concerned with is nature and natural resources.

    So, this is not the right answer choice.

  5. E
    the possibility of economic Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this answer choice match our anticipation (a topic related to nature)?

    No. The steady-state economists accept the possibility of economic stagnation when their preferred policy of conservation is adopted (P3 S2), so it is unlikely that they would consider stagnation to be a noneconomic constraint on the economy. Indeed, their whole game plan for solving the natural resource issue is to adopt alternatives to growth (P3 S2). If there is no growth, there will inevitably be stagnation or regression/shrinkage of the economy. So the possibility of stagnation could hardly be considered a constraint on the ideal steady-staters’ economy.

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