Self-study
Sometimes individuals must choose between two courses of action: one that most benefits the community and another that most benefits the person making the decision. █████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ██ █████████ █ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████████
Objective: Apply a Principle
The question stem asks us to find the application of a principle, so we should start by understanding the principle. The stimulus explains that when individuals have to choose between the public good and their own interests, they usually pursue their own interests. That leads to our principle, that governments should try to disincentivize selfish choices, and incentivize choices that align with the public good.
When applying this principle, there are several elements to look for in an answer choice. At a glance, all answer choices involve a government action, so that won't help us narrow it down. But the correct answer should also involve an action that creates incentives or disincentives for individuals. And on top of that, the action should encourage choices that align with the public good. By checking for both of these elements, we can find the correct application of this principle.
23.
Which one of the following ████ ███████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ████ ███████████
a
In order to ██████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ █ ███ ██████████ ██ █ █████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████
Does the action create individual (dis)incentives? ❌
The choice to award a contract to one of two developers with identical bids doesn't involve incentives or disincentives for individuals. Citizens won't be encouraged to act in any particular way by this decision.
b
In order to ███████ █ ████████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███████ █ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ██ ████████
Does the action create individual (dis)incentives? ❌
It seems that the government itself is acting against the public good here, but restricting suspects' rights doesn't create new incentives or disincentives for individuals to act any particular way.
c
In order to ███████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████ █████████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███████ █████ ████ ████████ ██████ ████████ ██ █ ███ ████████████ ████████
Does the action create individual (dis)incentives? ❌
Like (B), this seems like an example of the government working against the public good. But offering skills training to laid-off workers doesn't make it any more or less appealing for individuals to act in different ways.
d
In order to ███████ █████ █████████ ████ █ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███████ █ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████████
Does the action create individual (dis)incentives? ❓
Does the action encourage acting in the public good? ❌
Arguably, "deflecting attention" could be considered as a kind of incentive to pay attention to certain things. But even if we make that stretch, it's not in the public interest for individuals to ignore increases to elected officials' salaries.
e
In order to █████ ███████████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ █████████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████████
Does the action create individual (dis)incentives? ✅
Does the action encourage acting in the public good? ✅
Increasing electricity rates is certainly a way to disincentivize electricity use—the more it costs, the less people will want to use. And this aligns with the public good, because limiting electricity use will avoid shortages.