PT88.S2.Q25 - Babson and Cortez

marianne

OK this one is truly doing my head in...I original selected B but flagged it, and when reviewing I changed to C. Correct answer, tho is D and I have NO IDEA WHY. I'm generally kind of bad at the disagreement questions, but TBH I felt pretty good about C and cannot for the life of me understand why D is a better answer than C. Help!

Admin note: minor title edit; please use the format of "PT#.S#.Q# - [brief description]"

Ms Nikki

This question is covered in JY's recorded video calls, which is a good resource

https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/21699/pt88-br-with-j-y-on-nov-1-16-2-5pm-et

Let's get clear on the argument first:

Babson concludes basically that if the quality of articles and essays is high enough, charging people a dollar will succeed. Why? p1 Because people already tip in many countries even more than a dollar. p2 Also, a dollar isn't a lot of money.

Babson is using the analogy of tipping to provide support for paid articles.

Cortez replies basically that Babson's argument is weak. Yeah people tip in countries, but only for customary traditions - when you go out to eat, or get your hair done. He implies that tipping isn't customary for article writing. Additionally, people don't pay for each article individually, they usually buy a subscription. Therefore, good luck trying to make a living on writing for a dollar a view.

Cortez questions the applicability of the analogy in this case and offers another reason to doubt Babson.

What do they disagree on? Well that charging a dollar for reading an article would be successful. Babson says yeah, if quality is good. Cortez says probably not - people don't tip for everything - people don't pay for individual articles - good luck.

The Answer Choices

B - We don't know who is more likely to support such a practice, tipping or non tipping countries.
----Babson has no opinion on this. He thinks the model will be successful if quality good enough because a dollar isn't much and many people leave more than that to the barista at starbucks in many countries. Babson never says it will be successful only in countries that people tip. It will be successful if quality is high enough.
------Cortez has no opinion on this. He thinks it probably won't be successful at all because Babson's evidence is sloppy. Yet, it doesn't mean that some people won't pay $1 per article view. Just good luck making money that way. Who is more likely to pay $1? France? The US? Who knows.

C - Just claims it is possible to write articles that some people would pay a dollar to read
- Yeah, babson agrees, but does Cortez disagree?

----- In fact Cortez probably wouldn't disagree with this. I mean maybe Babson would pay a dollar to read the article and is from a country that doesn't practice tipping. He just thinks it wouldn't be successful. Let's say you write an article under this motto and 4 people read it. You've made 4 bucks. But are you successful in your dollar a read motto? Have you actually earned money "This way"?

D- People's attitudes towards tipping (The analogy used above) suggests [If quality high enough ----> Success]
----Babson agrees - his argument is structured in that way. His conclusion [qual articles ----> S] is supported by the fact people tip.
------Cortez disagrees - he says tipping in countries does not support tipping because it isn't customary to tip for articles and we don't pay for individual articles as is. I don't think Cortez is committed to saying the practices won't be successful anywhere at all in any circumstances, but that the reasons Babson gives arn't good evidence for the practice and that he would say good luck to any dollar journalist out there trying to make a living.

(Other ACs)

A - Nobody disagrees that tipping isn't a practice - or that no one wouldn't "routinely part with money" - I mean anybody ever go shopping ever?

E - We don't know what 'Most people' think. We know Babson thinks it is novel, we don't know what Cortez thinks, and we don't know what anyone else thinks about the practice.