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- Thu Jan 21, 2016 12:00 am
#35034
Complete Question Explanation
Main Point—FIB. The correct answer choice is (D)
Your task in this Main Point question is to provide the information that most logically concludes the
economist’s argument. Reordered for clarity, the argument proceeds:
Premise: most medicines have harmful as well as beneficial effects
Sub Conclusion: so the use of a type of medicine is ethically justified only when its
nonuse would be significantly more harmful than its use
Premise: the ethics of administering medicines is comparable to government
intervention in the free market
Premise: government intervention in the free market in pursuit of socially desirable
goals can affect supply and demand, thus distorting prices
Conclusion: thus, government intervention in the free market is justified only when it
________
The correct answer choice in this Main Point question will contain information that best completes
the conclusion. Because this argument relies on an analogy between medical intervention and
economic intervention, the correct answer is likely to state that government intervention in the free
market is justified only when its nonuse would be significantly more harmful than its use, as was
stated regarding the administration of medicine.
The incorrect answers will not contain information that follows logically from the premises, either
because it contradicts the premises, or because it merely restates a portion of the argument already
present in the stimulus.
Answer choice (A): The argument concerned when intervention is justified, not when its use would
be approved by a majority of affected participants.
Answer choice (B): This choice fails to apply the medical analogy, in which the decision to intervene
with medication rested on the non-intervention being worse than whatever negative side effects there
might be, rather than on a relative absence of negative side effects.
Answer choice (C): While this choice is tempting, it is incorrect because it focuses on whether the
intervention will exacerbate any existing problems, rather than on the damage that would occur if the
intervention were not applied.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. This choice properly focuses the analysis
on what would occur if the intervention were not made, in keeping with the medical analogy used to
support the conclusion.
Answer choice (E). This choice misstates the situation in the stimulus. Nothing in the stimulus cast
the problem as insoluble, with intervention being the only remedy. Rather, the decision to intervene
was based on the perception of what would occur in the absence of intervention.
Main Point—FIB. The correct answer choice is (D)
Your task in this Main Point question is to provide the information that most logically concludes the
economist’s argument. Reordered for clarity, the argument proceeds:
Premise: most medicines have harmful as well as beneficial effects Sub Conclusion: so the use of a type of medicine is ethically justified only when its nonuse would be significantly more harmful than its use Premise: the ethics of administering medicines is comparable to government intervention in the free market Premise: government intervention in the free market in pursuit of socially desirable goals can affect supply and demand, thus distorting prices Conclusion: thus, government intervention in the free market is justified only when it ________The correct answer choice in this Main Point question will contain information that best completes
the conclusion. Because this argument relies on an analogy between medical intervention and
economic intervention, the correct answer is likely to state that government intervention in the free
market is justified only when its nonuse would be significantly more harmful than its use, as was
stated regarding the administration of medicine.
The incorrect answers will not contain information that follows logically from the premises, either
because it contradicts the premises, or because it merely restates a portion of the argument already
present in the stimulus.
Answer choice (A): The argument concerned when intervention is justified, not when its use would
be approved by a majority of affected participants.
Answer choice (B): This choice fails to apply the medical analogy, in which the decision to intervene
with medication rested on the non-intervention being worse than whatever negative side effects there
might be, rather than on a relative absence of negative side effects.
Answer choice (C): While this choice is tempting, it is incorrect because it focuses on whether the
intervention will exacerbate any existing problems, rather than on the damage that would occur if the
intervention were not applied.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. This choice properly focuses the analysis
on what would occur if the intervention were not made, in keeping with the medical analogy used to
support the conclusion.
Answer choice (E). This choice misstates the situation in the stimulus. Nothing in the stimulus cast
the problem as insoluble, with intervention being the only remedy. Rather, the decision to intervene
was based on the perception of what would occur in the absence of intervention.
justified to use