#10 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post below with any questions!

[gweatherall]

I was confused by this question- I chose B, because I didn't see any indication that other factors besides financial gain would encourage migration. The last paragraph describes factors that defrayed the costs of migration- but not factors that encouraged migration, per se. Why is A correct, then?

Thanks!

[James Finch]

Hi G,

This passage, and especially this question, can be a tricky one because many students think only of factors incentivizing people to migrate (here presented as expected financial gain) and not those that disincentivize migration. The passage itself, in the first two paragraphs, presents financial gains as the sole prerequisite for groups to migrate, with a minimum threshold for migration to begin, but then presents a paradox that the last two paragraphs attempt to resolve: why did African American migration continue and even accelerate after expected financial gains from migration diminished?

In the last two paragraphs, the idea of barriers to migration are introduced, barriers that serve to raise the expected financial gains threshold needed for an individual to migrate. As more people from a certain place migrate to another place, the barriers to migrating diminish, as "reduced physical costs," reduced "cost of adapting to a new locale," and the existence of "a cultural cushion" all lowered the barriers to migration and thus the financial threshold for an individual to migrate.

In Question 10, answer choice (A) posits that there may be other factors that influence the likelihood of an individual migrating--these factors could be either positive (make more money in the new location) or negative (adapting to a new location, potentially alone, leaving family behind, etc). (B) is completely out of the scope of the passage, as we're only given information about a 20th century migration, and nothing ties it to earlier, 19th century migrations.

I hope this helps!

[gweatherall]

Ah- I see. I was extrapolating the idea of "financial gain" beyond what was identified in the passage. Thanks for clarifying this!

[StephLewis13]

Hi PowerScore,

So I had initially selected A, but talked myself out of it because of the financial "gains" aspect. "Gain" can be a 1% gain or a 100% gain. And just because financial differences were "narrowing" does not mean they were completely gone/depleted.

I determined that low incentive ("financial differences were narrowing") with low barriers (letters to the South, 'carpooling,' etc.) could still produce a financial gain. Therefore, migrants from the South to the North were still expecting financial gain, because barriers were reduced. Therefore, financial gains are still the indicator for whether migrants are likely to move.

Thanks in advance for your response.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Steph,

It's tricky, but this comes down to not reading the term "expected financial gains" in answer choice A too broadly. That term should not be read in this answer as "gains once all costs and benefits are considered." Instead it should be read more in line with what the passage says about "expected earnings." Look specifically at this paragraph 3 sentence, particularly the bolded portion: "Economists have typically assumed that people migrate if their expected earnings in the destination exceed those of the origin enough to outweigh the difficulties and one-time costs of migration." Given the usage of the term "expected" there, it's preferable to read "expected financial gains" in answer choice A as a reference to the amount by which expected earnings in the new locale would exceed earnings in the migrant's original locale. Such expected gains in wage are not the only reliable indicator of likelihood of migration, because one also has to take into account the difficulties and one-time costs of a migration.

While I know that's not the only possible reading that could be given to the phrase "expected financial gains" in answer choice A, it's a reading that fits with the language of "expectation" as used in the passage. And it is a very reasonable reading of the phrase that makes the answer a great answer. Combine that with the fact that there are simply no other good answers, and you've got enough to select answer choice A with some confidence.

I hope this helps!

[abby1285]

Apologies- didn't finish my thoughts for my question as to why E was wrong. I just want to make sure I have it right- it's because E says "large-scale migrations" and we are concerned with the African American migration? Thanks!

[Robert Carroll]

Abby,

I have no basis for a statement about migrations in general based on the evidence of one particular migration. That is why answer choice (E) does not have to be true.

Robert Carroll