Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Hard

PT109 S2 P1 Q4 Explanation

Per-Capita GNP

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Passage

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 provide services such as education, clean water, medicine, public transportation, and mass communication for their residents.

The economists defend their use of per capita GNP as the sole measure of a nation’s economic health by claiming that improvements in per capita GNP eventually stimulate improvements in human indicators. But, in actuality, this often fails to occur. Even in nations where economic stimulation has brought about substantial improvements in total wealth frequently obscures a lack of distribution of wealth across the society as a whole.

In light of the potential for such imbalances in distribution of economic benefits, some nations have begun to realize that their domestic economic efforts are better directed away from attempting to raise per capita GNP and instead toward ensuring that the conditions measured by human indicators are salutary. They recognize that unless thrive even if their per capita GNP remains stable or lags behind that of other nations.

What this question is testing

Weaken

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion less likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that look negative but attack a claim the argument never relied on.

Winning move

Find the assumption the argument depends on, then pick the choice that undermines it.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
4.

Which one of the following scenarios, if true, would most clearly be a counterexample to the views expressed in the last

Answer choices

  1. Compatible5% picked this

    The decision by a nation with a low level of economic health as measured by human indicators to focus on increasing the levels of

    These nations in the last paragraph would not be surprised by slower GNP growth. The last sentence allows for the idea that GNP might stagnate or go down.

  2. Correct57% picked this

    The decision by a nation with a low level of economic health as measured by human indicators to focus on increasing domestic production of

    Why this is right

    This answer goes against the "unless" conditional: ~shift away from → well being will be endangered GNP Counterexamples to conditionals always take the form of "the trigger happens, but the outcome doesn't". So here that would mean, a country doesn't shift away from GNP (~shift away) but it's well being is not endangered. That's exactly what this answer provides: an example of a country that doesn't shift away from GNP (in fact it focuses on GNP) and it's well being was not endangered (in fact, it significantly improved, as measured by human indicators). This also echoes a line from the economists at the beginning of the 2nd paragraph, who said that improving GNP would improve human indicators. They are implicitly on the other side of the debate from the nations in the last paragraph.

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

  3. Compatible11% picked this

    The decision by a nation with a low level of economic health as measured by human indicators to focus on increasing the levels of

    These nations focusing on human indicators don't care what happens to GNP; they allow for the idea that it might go up, be stable, or go down.

  4. Compatible9% picked this

    The decision by a nation with a low per capita GNP to focus on improving its level of economic health as measured by human

    These nations focusing on human indicators don't care what happens to GNP; they allow for the idea that it might go up, be stable, or go down.

  5. Compatible18% picked this

    The decision by a nation with a low per capita GNP to focus on increasing domestic production of goods fails to improve its economic

    This seems to fit the "unless" statement in the final sentence. The nations in this answer did not shift away from GNP, and their human indicators did not improve. Since the last paragraph is of the view that if you don't shift away from GNP, you'll endanger you're well being, this answer would not surprise them.

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