LSAT 106 – Section 1 – Question 17

LSAT 106 - Section 1 - Question 17

June 1999

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT106 S1 Q17
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
A
2%
157
B
22%
164
C
1%
163
D
69%
169
E
6%
162
149
159
169
 +Harder 152.148 +SubsectionHarder

When a community opens a large shopping mall, it often expects a boost to the local economy, and in fact a large amount of economic activity goes on in these malls. Yet the increase in the local economy is typically much smaller than the total amount of economic activity that goes on in the mall.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
How does a new shopping mall generate significant economic activity while contributing little to the overall economy?

Objective
Any hypothesis that resolves this discrepancy must address the relationship between the economic activity in a shopping mall and the greater community’s economy. It must allow for the overall economy to grow somewhat, but by a smaller amount than the total economic activity contained in the mall.

A
When large shopping malls are new they attract a lot of shoppers but once the novelty has worn off they usually attract fewer shoppers than does the traditional downtown shopping district.
This introduces a distinction between new and old shopping malls that is irrelevant to the discrepancy at hand. The author refers to new shopping malls, and does not reference economic effects at different stages of a mall’s life cycle.
B
Most of the money spent in a large shopping mall is spent by tourists who are drawn specifically by the mall and who would not have visited the community had that mall not been built.
This widens the discrepancy by implying the mall's economic activity should be mostly reflected in the community’s overall economy. If most customers come from out of town, they bring economic activity to the community that would otherwise go elsewhere.
C
Most of the jobs created by large shopping malls are filled by people who recently moved to the community and who would not have moved had there been no job offer in the community.
This implies the mall causes an increase in the community’s population, which if anything would boost the larger economy even more than expected. If the mall draws workers, then those workers will spend their money in the greater community and increase the total economic output.
D
Most of the money spent in a large shopping mall is money that would have been spent elsewhere in the same community had that mall not been built.
This explains why a new mall will contribute little to the overall economy. If the mall draws business from other places in the community, it causes a redistribution of existing economic activity but does not necessarily generate new activity.
E
Most of the jobs created by the construction of a large shopping mall are temporary, and most of the permanent jobs created are low paying.
This is an irrelevant distinction between the economy when the mall is being built and the economy after the mall is built. The mall offering low-paying permanent jobs does not explain its failure to grow the community's economy as a whole.

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LSAT PrepTest 106 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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