Self-study
Editorial: Support Given the law of supply and demand, maximum total utility is assured only in a pure free market economy, although other types of economies might be able to achieve it. ██████████ █████ █ ███████ ████ ███ █ ██████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████ █ ████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ███████ █████ ████████
Summarize Argument
The author says that any country without a free market that is not trying to implement one is not taking the avenue most likely to secure maximum economic utility. He supports this by saying that free markets assure maximum economic utility, but that other types of economies can also achieve it.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author’s conclusion does not follow from his premises. The premises state that although a free market is the only way to guarantee maximum utility, other economic systems are also able to achieve it. The author gives no indication of which system is the most likely to end with maximum economic utility for any economy. Guaranteeing maximum utility and being most likely to provide it are different things, so the conclusion that the free market is most likely to provide maximum utility is unsupported.
23.
The editorial's argument is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████ █ ████ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ █ ██████ ██████████ ███████
The author does not assume that not having a free market always leads to having a highly controlled economy. He just uses an example of a highly controlled economy in his conclusion, but makes no indication of the relationship between the two types of economies.
b
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███████
The distribution of utility in any type of economy is irrelevant to the author’s argument. He only brings up how to maximize utility, not how to distribute it.
c
fails to consider ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ █ ██████████ ███ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ███
This answer choice implies that the author ignores other avenues of achieving maximum utility, which he does not. The author explicitly recognizes that there are other types of economies that can achieve maximum utility in his premise.
d
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ █ █████████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███
The author concludes that a free market, which guarantees maximum utility, is the most likely way to achieve maximum utility. However, the author also mentioned that other economic systems can achieve maximum utility, without indicating which system has the highest chance of achieving that.
e
ignores the possibility ████ █ ████ ████ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███████
The drawbacks of any economic system are irrelevant to this argument. The author is only concerned with achieving maximum utility and which economic systems can and are most likely to do so, not what will happen when maximum utility is achieved.