LSAT 156 – Section 2 – Question 23

LSAT 156 - Section 2 - Question 23

July 2020

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT156 S2 Q23
+LR
Sufficient assumption +SA
A
38%
163
B
15%
152
C
26%
155
D
18%
155
E
4%
144
154
164
173
 +Hardest 145.275 +SubsectionEasier

When a resource’s price reflects its full cost to society, consumers pay directly for externalities—the unintended but harmful consequences to society of using a resource. Further, the price of a resource deters misuse of that resource only if it reflects the resource’s externalities. So, since sound management of a resource requires that the price of the resource deter its misuse, it also requires that the price reflect whatever unintended harm to the environment the use of that resource causes.

Summary
The author concludes that sound management of a resource requires that the price reflect any unintended harm to the ENVIRONMENT from use of that resource. Why? Because of the following:
Sound management of a resource requires that the price of the resource deter its misuse. This requires that the price reflect the resource’s externalities. A resource’s externalities includes the unintended harmful consequences to SOCIETY.

Missing Connection
We know from the premises that sound management of a resource requires that a price reflect the unintended harmful consequences to SOCIETY from use of that resource. But does that imply that sound management of a resources requires the price to reflect unintended harm to the ENVIRONMENT from use of the resource? Not necessarily. What if harm to the environment is simply not part of harm to society? In that case, we don’t have to take into account harm to the environment in the resource’s price.
So to make this argument valid, we want to establish that in order to reflect unintended harm to society, a price must also reflect unintended harm to the environment.

A
Whatever constitutes unintended harm to the environment also constitutes unintended harm to society.
If unintended harm to environment is part of unintended harm to society, then if a price reflects unintended harm to society, it must also reflect unintended harm to the environment. (Think about “harm to environment” as a subset completely contained within a larger set of “harm to society.”)
B
A resource’s externalities are always taken into account in setting the price of that resource.
Externalities are defined as unintended but harmful consequences to society. But we don’t know whether harm to the environment is part of harm to society. So (B) doesn’t make the argument valid; we’d still have no way of knowing whether sound management requires that a price reflect harm to the environment.
C
When setting a resource’s price, it is possible to forecast completely and accurately all of the effects of using that resource.
Whether it’s possible to accurately and completely predict the effects of using a resource when setting a price tells us nothing about whether harm to the environment is part of harm to society. Without a connection between environmental harm and societal harm, we have no way of knowing whether sound management requires that a price reflect harm to the environment.
D
If a resource is soundly managed, then its externalities are precisely assessed.
(D) establishes that sound management requires that externalities are precisely assessed. But does having a price reflect externalities imply having a price that reflects harm to the environment? We don’t know.
E
The price of a given resource is only one of several factors relevant to a decision about whether to use it.
Whether a resource should be used is separate from what’s required for sound management of a resource. In addition, (E) tells us nothing about the relationship between harm to the environment and harm to society.

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LSAT PrepTest 156 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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