Self-study
Consumer advocate: Economists reason that price gouging—increasing the price of goods when no alternative seller is available—is efficient because it allocates goods to people whose willingness to pay more shows that they really need those goods. ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █ ███████ █ █████ ████████ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ████ ███ ████ █████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The consumer advocate argues that price gouging does not efficiently allocate goods to those with the most need but rather to those with the most money. While some economists believe that increasing prices during shortages effectively allocates goods by prioritizing those willing to pay more, the author disputes this. The author contends that willingness to pay is not proportional to need since some people simply cannot pay as much as others.
Identify Argument Part
This claim directly counters the economists' argument that those willing to pay more for a good must need the good more. The consumer advocate calls out this assumption by suggesting that those with the most money will end up with the desired good.
22.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ █████
a
It disputes one ███████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███████████ ████████████
This is not an alternative explanation. It is part of the consumer advocate’s reasoning that is used to reject the economist’s argument.
b
It is the ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████
This is not the conclusion of the argument. This supports the conclusion that a price increase will allocate goods to people with the most money.
c
It is a █████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
This is not something that the author disputes. The consumer advocate believes this statement and uses it to dispute the economists’ reasoning.
d
It is a ███████ █████████ █████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████
The argument does not question the validity of this statement. The author believes this statement and uses it to support the main conclusion.
e
It denies a █████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ████████
This is a tough answer choice to parse through, but it’s dead on. This statement denies a claim (that willingness to pay a price reflects the level of need) that is assumed by the economists’ position, which the author wishes to reject.