Reading Comprehension

PT109 · S2 · P1 · Q2 Per-Capita GNP

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Many political economists believe that the soundest indicator of the economic health of a nation is the nation’s gross national product (GNP) per capita—a figure reached by dividing the total value of the goods produced yearly in a nation by its population and taken to be a measure of the welfare of the nation’s residents.

Topic / Purpose

Measuring economic health / Problem-Solution

Main Point

Human indicators are a better metric than is GNP to measure the welfare of a nation's residents.

Passage Map

P1 - Intro of GNP as one method. Author's thesis that human indicators is better method. P2 - Brief defense of GNP by its proponents, followed by author's reasons that GNP is not a great metric. P3 - Real world examples of countries going with human indicators instead.

Other Commentary

This passage's big picture can be surmised in the first two sentences. We hear the classic 1-2-punch of "many (other) people believe ____ " followed by the Author's Pivot, with a But / Yet / However / Recently.

We could have also construed this passage with other frameworks: Answer a Question - How should we measure economic health? Human indicators. Present a Debate - People are debating how to measure economic health, and our author is on the side of "human indicators".

2.

The term "welfare" is used in the first paragraph to refer most specifically to which one of the following?

  1. Correct

    the overall quality of life

    Why this is right

    Yes, since the examples in the last sentence of the first paragraph are so broad (nutrition, jobs, environment, infrastructure), this broad idea is a good fit.

    Skill tested: Meaning in Context · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    89% picked this

  2. the services provided to individuals

    Too Narrow

    This seems to be trying to get students to use their "real world" sense of welfare, which is frequently used to describe programs in which the government gives food or money to those most in need. If we thought about subbing in this answer into the 1st or 2nd sentence, it would sound crazy. "... dividing total value of goods by total population and taken to be a measure of the services provided to individuals by the govt of the nation's residents". Meanwhile, if we subbed in choice (A) to that same blank, it would make much better sense.

    2% picked this

  3. the material wealth owned by

    Too Narrow

    Material wealth can affect the welfare of residents, but that's too specific. Availability of jobs, of education, of clean water, of healthy food ... these also affect welfare.

    6% picked this

  4. the extent to which the

    Too Narrow Outside Proof Window

    Distribution of wealth isn't even discussed in this paragraph, so it's not a tempting answer in that regard. It's not among the list of things provided at the end of the 1st paragraph that are said to be "many factors affecting residents' welfare", so it's also not tempting in that regard. Even if it were in that list, it would only be one thing. We need a way to describe the whole list.

    2% picked this

  5. government efforts to redistribute wealth

    Bad Match

    This doesn't match anything in the last sentence of the first paragraph. Also, like (B), this is playing off a "real world" trap in which people think about welfare programs (govt giving money/food to those most in need) as a form of redistribution of wealth, since these programs are often funded mainly by the taxation of the richest citizens.

    0% picked this

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