Logical Reasoning

PT3 · S2 · Q17 A society’s infant mortality rate

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A society’s infant mortality rate is an accepted indicator of that society’s general health status.

Given that ...

Infant mortality rate is treated as an indicator of society's general health status, and that ... the U.S. infant mortality rate has been steadily declining,

How can it be that ...

Babies in the U.S. aren't necessarily healthier at birth than they were in the past?

Evaluate

Usually on Paradox questions, the background comes first and the surprise comes second, but not always.

In this case, it might feel more natural to think, GIVEN THAT babies in the U.S. aren't any healthier than before,

HOW CAN IT BE THAT the rate of babies dying has gone down in the U.S.?

Goal

Let's look for a way to explain fewer babies dying, even though the babies aren't inherently healthier than before.

17.

Which one of the following reasons, if true, most strongly supports the claim made above about the implications of the decline?

  1. The figure for infant mortality

    No Impact

    Sure, we already assumed that the national infant mortality rate was a national average and so that overall number doesn't tell you the specific story in particular localities. But it doesn't matter that there is local deviation from the average rate. The average rate is still a snapshot of the country as a whole, and the country as a whole has a lower infant mortality rate than before. We need a way to explain why the national rate is lower, a way that isn't "it's lower because babies are healthier at birth than they used to be". This answer provides no such storyline.

    23% picked this

  2. Low birth weight is a

    No Impact

    This tells us one of the ways that infants do die. We're looking for a way to explain why infants aren't dying as much as before.

    4% picked this

  3. Correct

    The United States has been

    Why this is right

    This is a way to explain a falling infant mortality rate, that doesn't involve the babies' being healthier. "It's not cuz babies are necessarily healthier, we just have fewer infants dying than we used to because we now have better ways of saving premature and low-birth weight babies (the types of babies that would have died more frequently in the past)."

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

    70% picked this

  4. In eleven states of the

    No Impact

    This just provides more specific context about the nation's falling infant mortality rate, but it doesn't provide any sort of causal storyline for why the mortality rate is falling.

    3% picked this

  5. Babies who do not receive

    Out of Scope

    This is about post-birth caregiving and weight gain, not about birth health or mortality. It does not explain why the mortality rate has declined and does not address whether babies are now being born healthier.

    0% picked this

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