Self-study
P1
Some environmentalists claim that the higher the international debt a nation carries, the more likely it is that the quality of life in that nation will suffer. █████ █████████████████ █████ ████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ █ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████████ █████████ ███
Environmentalists Conclusion ·
Increased debt correlates with low quality of life
Because paying off debt will deplete natural resources; increase pollution; hamper domestic spending
Environmentalists Premise 1 ·
Exports promotion hypothesis
Repaying debt can lead to diverting resources to produce export goods rather than domestic goods. This leads to more environmental damage. E.g., razing forests.
Environmentalists Premise 2 ·
Domestic spending can fall
Repaying debt can lead to less domestic spending; reduced funds for public services; elimination of subsidies that reduce pollution.
P2
███ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████████████ ██████ ██ █████ ███
Main Point ·
Enviromentalists’ evidence is weak
Careful... author didn't say environmentalists' conclusion is false, just that their reasoning is weak.
Premise 1 ·
Critiques Environmentalists Premise 1
Studies don’t provide convincing evidence supporting the export promotion hypothesis.
Premise 2 ·
Critiques Environmentalists Premise 2
Reduction in domestic spending may be good for quality of life. E.g., abandoning plans to build new dams or roads could improve environment.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
27.
The passage suggests that the ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ██████████ ███████
a
Borrowing from other █████████ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ████████ ███████
The author wouldn’t agree with (A), because one of the author’s points is that cuts to domestic spending, which some contend are a result of increased international debt (borrowing), might actually help the environment by stopping implementation of harmful programs.
b
Subsidies for practices ████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████████████
There’s no support for the author’s agreement. The author does acknowledge that cuts to domestic spending might lead to cuts in subsidies for practices that reduce pollution. Whether those subsidies are effective in reducing pollution is not something the author takes a position on.
c
Encouraging the production ██ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ████████ █████████
(C) mixes up the exports promotions hypothesis and the argument about cuts to domestic spending. Those are two different arguments presented by environmentalists for why increased international debt would lead to decreased quality of life. But the environmentalists never say that encouraging production of exports leads to decreased domestic spending. What they say is that increased international debt leads to both more exports and cuts to domestic spending.
In any case, this question asks us about the author’s perspective, not the environmentalists’. And the author never says that encouraging the production of exports leads to decreased domestic spending. The author never actually agrees that production of exports leads to anything – part of the author’s point is that there’s not enough evidence to tell us the results of increased exports.
d
International debt payments ███ █ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ████████ █████████
(D) states a requirement in order for international debt payments to be a problem. But, the author never suggests any requirement for international debt payments being a problem. The author only calls into question the sufficiency of the environmentalists’ evidence.
e
A nation can ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████