Reading Comprehension

PT109 · S2 · P1 · Q3 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".

3.

The passage provides specific information about each of the following EXCEPT:

  1. how per capita GNP is

    Supported

    This is explained in the very 1st sentence: total value of goods divided by total population.

    1% picked this

  2. what many political economists believe

    Supported

    The very first sentence establishes that "many political economists" believe that GNP is the soundest indicator, so presumably they think it's an accurate indicator.

    3% picked this

  3. how nations with a relatively

    Supported

    In the 2nd paragraph, starting with the sentence beginning with "Nations ...", we are given examples of countries with high GNP, but low human indicators and narrow concentration of wealth vs. countries with lower GNP, but with better human indicators and better distributed wealth.

    12% picked this

  4. why human indicators may not

    Supported

    The same section supporting choice (C) also supports choice (D), since we're given mismatches where countries have high GNP but low human indicators, or low GNP but high human indicators. The reason for this mismatch has to do with distribution of wealth. Having a bunch of billionaires would increase your GNP but not increase your nation's economic health (unless the billionaires donate a lot of money towards things that would improve human indicators).

    15% picked this

  5. Correct

    how nations can adjust their

    Why this is right

    Given that our author does not even like using GNP as a metric, it shouldn't surprise us that she never discusses specific ways that countries can adjust their economic efforts to bring about higher GNP. The last paragraph talks about adjusting domestic economic efforts to bring about improvements in human indicators.

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

    68% picked this

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