PT1.S3.Q12 - Can someone explain why the answer is correct?

seekersagesolecist

can someone explain why D is correct and the other ACs are incorrect? Maybe its bc its ab economic theory, but i struggled with this one and ended on D only bc the others seemed less plausible.

Admin Note: Edited title. Please use the format: PT#.S#.Q# - brief description of the question

iolaw-12

The question stimulus tells us that older people have fewer reasons to save than young people. It then concludes that if the average age of the populations continue to rise (ie: if the population contains relatively more old people) then the national savings rates will continue to drop, and there is an implied "because older people save less than young people" at the end of the conclusion.

However, that conclusion is not something we have evidence for. The evidence the conclusion relies on is the fact that "older people have fewer reasons to save than do younger people" but the number of reasons old people have to save does not tell us about how much old people actually save. For example, as answer choice D says, the strength of those reasons is not being considered. If we think about this, even if older people have fewer reasons to save than younger people, if their reasons are stronger then they might actually save more than younger people. So D is correct.

Incorrect:
A- We don't need to know the reasons that younger people have for saving money or which of those reasons is the strongest in order to evaluate the argument

B- This brings up a negative savings rate, which is not even mentioned in the stimulus/conclusion

C- They never assert that the population of certain nations is currently rising, just that IF the average age continues to rise, then XX will happen.

E- After-tax vs. before-tax income has nothing to do with the argument made