Self-study
Economist: Some people argue that when large countries split into several small countries, the world economy is harmed by increased barriers to free trade in the form of an increased number of national tariffs. ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ████████████████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████
Summary
The economist concludes that the division of large countries into several small countries does not increase barriers to free trade. She supports this by saying that small countries don’t think of themselves as economically self-sufficient.
Missing Connection
The economist concludes that the division of large countries into small ones doesn’t increase barriers to free trade, but her premise just establishes that small countries don’t think of themselves as economically self-sufficient.
To get from her premise to her conclusion, the economist must assume that if a country does not think of itself as economically self-sufficient, then it won’t increase barriers to free trade.
22.
Which one of the following, ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████
a
A country has ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ████████
This just establishes that large countries can split into small countries regardless of the economic consequences. But it tells us nothing about whether the division of large countries actually does increase barriers to free trade.
b
Increasing the number ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ████████
This suggests that the division of a large country into several smaller ones would strengthen the world economy. But it doesn’t prove that such a division will not increase barriers to free trade. The economy could still be stronger despite increased barriers to free trade.
c
All countries that ██████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ████████████████
Contrapositive: Countries that don’t think of themselves as economically self-sufficient don’t impose barriers to free trade. This proves that the division of countries doesn’t increase barriers to free trade, since small countries don’t think of themselves as economically self-sufficient.
d
There is strong ████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ████████
The fact that barriers to free trade harm the economy doesn’t tell us anything about whether the division of large countries into small ones increases barriers to free trade. (D) just tells us that if such division does increase barriers to free trade, it would likely harm the economy.
e
Large countries tend ██ ██ ████ ████████████ ███████████████ ████ █████ ██████████
Whether large or small countries are more economically self-sufficient, we know that small countries don’t view themselves as self-sufficient. We still need to establish that countries that don’t view themselves as economically self-sufficient don’t raise barriers to free trade.