Self-study
Adjusted for inflation, the income earned from wool sales by a certain family of Australian sheep farmers grew substantially during the period from 1840 to 1860. ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████████████ █████████ ████████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █ ████████████ ████████ ██ ███████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Between 1840 and 1860, why did the family fail to enjoy an increase in prosperity that corresponded to their increase in wool-income, which derived from the family’s increase in amount of wool sold internationally?
Objective
The correct answer should tell us about something that changed over 1840 to 1860 that might have led the family to either make less money or have greater expenses.
20.
Which one of the following ██████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████ ██████
a
At the end ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ████ █████████████
What happened at the “end of the 1800s” won’t explain what happened to the family between 1840 and 1860. And, the family’s wool-income increased from international sales, so general prices increasing faster than domestic wool prices increased has no impact.
b
The prices of ████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████ ███████ █████████ ████████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████
The family’s wool-income increased due to greater international sales. Even if the family made less wool-income from domestic sales, we already know their overall wool-income increased because of international sales.
c
The international and ████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████
If prices for these non-wool products sold by the family fell sharply, that could have offset the increased income from wool-sales. This shows why overall income for the family might not have increased, even if wool-income did.
d
Competition in wool █████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ██ █ ████ █████████ ████████ ████ ███████████
Even if Australian wool producers in general were in a less favorable position than previously, we already know this family increased their wool-income. This answer doesn’t suggest why the family’s prosperity might not have increased along with their wool-income.
e
Among Australian sheep ████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ █████ ██████ ███████████ ████ █████████████ ████ █████ █████████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████
We already know this family increased its wool-income from international sales. Whether other farmers exclusively sold internationally doesn’t tell us why this particular family might not have seen an increase in prosperity along with its increase in wool-income.