Throughout European history famines have generally been followed by periods of rising wages, because when a labor force is diminished, workers are more valuable in accordance with the law of supply and demand. ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████
Resolve, reconcile, or explain questions present us two facts that exist in tension, then ask us to provide an additional fact that explains how they could both be true. In this stimulus, the two facts in tension are:
Fact 1: Usually famines are followed by periods of rising wages.
Fact 2: The Irish potato famine was not followed by a period of rising wages.
Because this is an EXCEPT question, we know the testwriters were able to come up with at least four plausible explanations. This gives us reason to spend more time brainstorming than we usually do – apparently coming up with explanations is pretty easy. Here are some of mine (I legit wrote these out before looking at the answers):
- Maybe the Irish potato famine was so severe that it diminished not just the labor supply but also the demand for labor.
- Maybe there was a dramatic influx of immigrants to Ireland once the famine abated, driving wages down.
- Maybe [other factors that I can't think of because I am an ignoramus] put downward pressure on wages that counteracted the famine's influence, weighing factors style.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ █████ ██████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████████
Improved medical care ███████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ███████
If medical care kept able-bodied adults alive at higher rates post-famine, the labor supply recovered faster than raw population numbers suggest, putting downward pressure on wages.
Eviction policies of ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ██████ █ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ████████
(B) says "sure lots of people died and emigrated, but those weren't workers." It sets the Irish famine apart from most other famines by breaking the link between famine and a diminished labor force.
Advances in technology █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████
If technology reduced the demand for labor, that would explain why wages didn't rise even if there was a substantial decrease in the labor supply.
The birth rate █████████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████
(D) irrelevant as an explanation for Ireland's low wages because newborn babies aren't workers, and therefore don't increase the labor supply.
England, which had █████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ████████████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ██████
This provides a political explanation for Ireland's low wages that doesn't rely on supply or demand or economic factors at all: Parliament conspired to force the wages downward.
This one is a true fact, by the way…