#1 - The obsession of economists with consumption as a

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Complete Question Explanation

Main Point. The correct answer choice is (A)

The fi rst sentence of the stimulus presents an intellectual-sounding conclusion about economists
and consumption. In the author’s opinion, economists focus too much on consumption as a measure
of economic well-being, and this obsession has prevented an understanding of the true nature of
economic-well being. In other words, by overemphasizing the meaning of consumption, economists
have misunderstood what economic well-being actually is.

The second sentence of the stimulus is a premise that provides real world examples to support the
conclusion in the fi rst sentence, and these examples are intended to show that just consuming certain
goods does not necessarily make us economically well off. On a deeper logical level, the author uses
the second sentence to imply that satisfaction is (or ought to be) a necessary measure of economic
well-being. That is, when considering economic well-being we cannot just examine consumption;
we must also examine satisfaction as a measure of whether economic well-being has been fully
achieved.

The question stem asks you to identify the main point, so you should select a response that refl ects
the author’s assertion that economic well-being cannot be measured by consumption alone.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. The conclusion of the argument is that too
great a focus on consumption prevents a true understanding of economic well-being, meaning that
economic well-being cannot be defi ned solely by consumption.

Answer choice (B): In any Main Point question, you must ask yourself whether the choice under
consideration is supported by the information in the passage. Although the passage states that we get
very little satisfaction from certain aspects of consumption (namely, the wearing out and replacement
of products), the passage does not suggest that consumption is not necessary to satisfaction.

Answer choice (C): The stimulus indicates that one current measure does not explain economic wellbeing
completely. The author does not discuss measures of consumption and the author certainly
does not suggest that valid measures cannot be devised for consumption (or for economic wellbeing,
for that matter).

Answer choice (D): This is not the main point of the stimulus. The products cited were used to
help explain that aspects of economic well-being are not captured by measuring consumption.
Furthermore, you cannot infer from the examples of clothing, vehicles, and gasoline that modern
products are designed for early obsolescence, because the stimulus does not discuss how quickly
those three examples wear out, and the longevity of three product types has little to do with overall
obsolescence rates in the entire market.

Answer choice (E): If you identifi ed the fi rst sentence as the conclusion, you could eliminate
this answer choice immediately because it references the premise rather than the conclusion.
Regardless, you cannot infer from the stimulus that satisfaction is an adequate, or suffi cient, measure
of economic well-being (while you could infer from the stimulus that satisfaction ought to be a
necessary measure of economic well-being, you cannot be certain that satisfaction is a suffi cient
measure; that is, you cannot be sure that it alone is good enough). Even if you could infer that
satisfaction is an adequate measure of economic well-being, that inference would still not be the
main point of the stimulus.