PT109.S2.P1.Q3 > Analytics

Hide analysis

Many political economists believe that the soundest indicator of the economic health of a nation is the nation's gross national product (GNP) per capita—a figure reached by dividing the total value of the goods produced yearly in a nation by its population and taken to be a measure of the welfare of the nation's residents. ███

Economists' perspective · Best indicator of nation's economic health is gross national product (GNP) per person

GNP per person = total value of goods produced per year divided by population.

███ █████ ███ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ███████████ █████ █████████ ████ █████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██ █ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████████ █████ █████ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████ ███████████ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ██████████ █████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██████████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ███████████████ ███ ████ █████████████ ███ █████ ██████████

Critique · Human indicators are more important than GNP in measuring nation's welfare

Lists examples of human indicators. Nutrition, life expectancy, infant mortality, access to various resources such as water, education, medicine, and more.

Economists' response · Improvements in GNP cause improvements in human indicators

████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████ ███████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ █ █████ ████████████ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ █ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██████████ ████ ███

Rebuttal 1 · Some nations have high GNP, but but low human indicators

██ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ █ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ██████████ ████████ █████████ ██████ █████ █ █████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ █████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████████ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████████ █████████ █ ████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████████ ████████ █ ████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████

Rebuttal 2 · GNP doesn't measure distribution of benefits

Nations can have high GNP even if economic benefits go to a small minority of the population.

██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ █ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ████████

What some nations do · Focus on improving human indicators, not GNP

They recognize that material wealth should not be sole indicator of economic health.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

The passage provides specific information █████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████

how per capita ███ ██ ██████████

This is stated in P1. It’s calculated by dividing the total value of goods produced in a nation in a given year by the nation’s population.

what many political ██████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ █ ████████ ████████ ██████

This is stated in P1. Many political economists think that per capita GNP is an accurate measure of economic health.

how nations with █ ██████████ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ████████████ █████████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██████

This is implied in P3. We see that nations with a low per capita GNP but strong human indicators may be better off than other nations with a similar or higher per capita GNP.

why human indicators ███ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ █ ████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ████

This is stated in P1. Per capita GNP only measures the total value of goods produced in a nation divided by the population; human indicators include many other factors.

how nations can ██████ █████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ███████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███

This is not stated in the passage. The passage does not provide methods that countries can use to improve per capita GNP.

84%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic

More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Free practice test All free LSAT resources

PrepTest 109 - Section 2 - Passage 1 - Question 3

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action