Economist: Many of my colleagues

Answer choices

1. A

   Out of Scope: testimony of experts0% picked this

   relies solely on the testimony of

   The author relies on one premise "the economy is already growing at a sustainable rate", not on any expert testimony.

   0%
2. B

   Doesn't Confuse21% picked this

   confuses economic growth with what stimulates

   There's no confusion like what this describes. The author knows that "lowering interest rates" can stimulate economic growth and is simply saying that the economy is already growing fine, so there's no need to stimulate it to grow.

   21%
3. C

   Correct63% picked this

   presumes that a need to stimulate economic growth is the only possible reason to lower

   Why this is right

   This is an extreme-sounding assumption we're accusing the author of: "stimulating economic growth is the only possible reason to lower interest rates". But the conclusion is very extreme: "there is no reason to lower interest rates". Whenever we're judging Necessary Assumption answers that present conditionals (such as the only), we can look at how they would appear as a conditional move and ask ourselves, "Did the author make that reasoning move?" no need to stimulate ? no reason to lower economic growth interest rates now Yup, that matches the author's reasoning, alright. In this argument, the author rebuts the idea that we should lower interest rates to stimulate the economy. She establishes that there's no need to stimulate the economy, and then pivots to "thus there is no reason to lower interest rates".

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

   63%
4. D

   Not Necessary vs. Sufficient4% picked this

   takes what is merely one way of stimulating economic growth to be the only way

   This answer has the feel of a Sufficient vs. Necessary, the #1 famous flaw. The author does seem to accept that lowering interest rates is one way of stimulating economic growth. Does she then start acting like it's the only way to stimulate economic growth? No. Nothing she says is acting like the only way to stimulate economic growth is by lowering interest rates. Maybe she thinks that lowering taxes could also stimulate economic growth.

   4%
5. E

   Bad Conclusion Match12% picked this

   concludes that a further reduction of interest rates would lead to unsustainable economic growth merely from the fact that the economy is

   Since this answer takes the form of, concludes X merely from the fact that Y we should ask ourselves whether X matches the conclusion and Y matches the evidence. Did the author conclude "if we reduce interest rates further, it will lead to unsustainable growth"? Nope. She concluded "there is no reason to lower interest rates".

   12%