Reading Comprehension

PT109 · S2 · P1 · Q5 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".

5.

The primary function of the last paragraph of the passage is to

  1. offer a synthesis of the

    Not a Synthesis

    This expands on the author's position, outlined in the 2nd paragraph. It shows real world cases of this opinion, not a synthesis of two different positions.

    10% picked this

  2. expose the inadequacies of both

    Doesn't Go Against Both

    This last paragraph continues the author's position from the 2nd paragraph. It doesn't go against the economists' position and the author's position.

    2% picked this

  3. summarize the argument made in

    Not a Summary

    This last paragraph brings in new ideas (some nations are actually trying this shift from GNP). It doesn't summarize the old ideas. It relates to the ideas in the latter half of the 2nd paragraph, but it's not summarizing the first two paragraphs.

    20% picked this

  4. correct a weakness in the

    Doesn't Strengthen Economists

    Correcting a weakness in a position = strengthening it. This last paragraph shows that some nations agree with the author, and disagree with those economists. This paragraph isn't strengthening the position of those economists.

    9% picked this

  5. Correct

    suggest policy implications of the

    Why this is right

    Since the third paragraph is a shift from theoretical to real world, it makes sense to say that we're looking at policy implications. The argument made in the first two paragraphs is that GNP is a flawed metric that fails to capture human indicators of welfare and that obscures income inequalities. "In light of these imbalances", some nations have begun to realize they should direct efforts away from GNP and toward human indicators. "ln light of X, Y" means that X implies Y. And since we're talking about where to focus domestic economic efforts, we're talking about domestic economic policy.

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

    58% picked this

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