Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Hard

PT148 S2 P3 Q18 Explanation

Insider-Trading

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsMethodLaw

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Passage

Passage A Insider-trading law makes it a crime to make stock transactions, or help others make stock transactions, based on information you have ahead of the special position within a company.

However, trading based on information you have that everyone else doesn’t—isn’t this part of the very definition of a functioning stock market? The entire field of stock brokering is based on people gaining knowledge that others don’t have and then using it to profit themselves or their clients. If you analyze a have. That doesn’t make you a criminal; it means you’ve done your homework.

Stock markets work best when all the relevant information about a company is spread as widely as possible, as quickly as possible. Stock prices represent a constantly shifting amalgamation of everyone’s information about and evaluations of a company’s value. It helps when those who to act so that stock prices reflect them.

Someone selling a stock because they know something will happen soon that will lower the stock’s value helps spread the knowledge that the price ought to be dropping. Such actions help ensure that stock prices do reflect a more That’s good for everyone in the stock market.

When contemplating insider-trading law, it helps to consider a far more widespread practice: “insider nontrading”—stock sales or purchases that would have been made, but aren’t because of inside knowledge. This is certainly happening every day, think to lock someone up for it.

Passage B One of the basic principles of the stock market is transparency. In a transparent market, information that influences trading decisions is available to all participants at the same time. Success in the market can then be gained only by skill in analyzing the information and making good investing decisions. In a good investment, and success is based on individual merit and skill.

In insider-trading situations, some people make investment decisions based on information that other people don’t have. People who don’t have access to the inside information can’t make similarly informed investment decisions. That unfairly compromises the market: people with inside information can make informed trade decisions far before other people to earn money in the stock market.

This, in turn, causes a loss of investor confidence and could ultimately destroy the market. People invest in the stock market because they believe they can make money. The whole point of capital investments is to make good investing decisions and make money over time. If investors believe they can’t make money, grow and be successful, and it could ultimately lead to widespread financial repercussions.

What this question is testing

Method

Your task

Describe how the argument proceeds — the technique it uses to reach its conclusion.

Common trap

Answers that describe a method the argument doesn't actually use.

Winning move

Track the role each statement plays, then match that to the choice describing the same moves.

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

The question
18.

Passage A, unlike passage B, seeks to advance its

Answer choices

  1. Unsupported Both8% picked this

    applying general principles to particular

    It does seem like either passage provides a specific example of insider trading or non-trading. Without any specific examples, we can't say either passage applied a principle to a particular.

  2. Correct69% picked this

    pointing out similarities between a controversial activity and

    Why this is right

    In arguing that insider trading shouldn't be so controversial / hated / criminal, the author of Passage A compares it to any other form of gaining knowledge that others don't have. The second paragraph is pointing out the similarities between insider trading and all other kinds of trading, which are condoned and accepted. - the very definition of a functioning stock market - the entire field of stock brokering is based on this - this just means you've done your homework Most explicitly, in passage A's final paragraph, she points out the similarities between insider trading and insider nontrading, and establishes that the latter is uncontroversial: This is certainly happening every day, and rightfully so. No one would think to lock someone up for it. The argument B is making is that insider trading is criminal and should be controversial. It wouldn't really behoove his purpose to compare it to something uncontroversial. That would make it seem benign, and this author thinks that insider trading is a bad thing that could lead to a loss of investors and widespread financial repercussions.

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

  3. Definitely in Passage B6% picked this

    describing the consequences that would result from allowing

    Without thinking too hard about Passage A, we can get rid of this by realizing that B's final two paragraphs are all about describing the consequences of allowing insider trading: unfairly compromises market makes it nearly impossible for others to earn money leads to a loss of investor confidence could lead to widespread financial repercussions

  4. Definitely in Passage B13% picked this

    showing how a specific activity relates to a

    Without thinking too hard about Passage A, we can get rid of this by realizing that B's final two paragraphs are all about showing how insider trading relates to the larger context of investors in the stock market. In B's 2nd paragraph, it shows: In insider-trading, some people make investment decisions based on info others don't have, who can't make similarly informed decisions. That unfairly compromises the market ... making it difficult or impossible for other people to earn money in the stock market. That definitely qualifies as showing how the specific activity of insider trading relates to the larger context of a healthy vs. compromised market.

  5. Both or Neither4% picked this

    examining the motivations of an activity's

    Depending on how we interpret "motivations of participants", we would say it's in both passages or neither. If we just mean their economic motivation (they are using their inside information because they are trying to make wise, optimal decisions with where to invest their capital), both passages covered this. If we mean "motivations" more on that accusatory moral level, then neither passage really got into whether inside trading was being done by the sinister or the pure of heart.

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