PT119.S1.P1.Q4 > Analytics

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Economists have long defined prosperity in terms of monetary value, gauging a given nation's prosperity solely on the basis of the total monetary value of the goods and services produced annually. ███

Economists' perspective · Measure nation's prosperity based on monetary value of stuff nation produces

Critics' perspective · There are other values (besides money) important to prosperity

Such as qualify of life and environmental health.

Example Supporting Critics · Things that reduce QOL and environmental health can lead to increased monetary value

Weakening ozone layer leads to sales of hats, sunglasses, and sunscreens. Economists would measure this as increase in prosperity, when it's actually a decrease.

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Risk of Economists' Perspective · People can try to increase monetary value but hurt QOL and environment.

In one case, a small town opposed limits on cutting down trees, because it thought limits would decrease wages and jobs.

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Critics' Perspective (on town example) · The town loses a lot more without the limits

Without limits, their land would be damaged. This hurts something the town clearly values. Also, you can understand the value of the land in monetary terms; the town still loses more from forgoing limits on cutting trees.

Economists' rebuttal · Prosperity needs to be quantifiable

Critique · But prosperity involves non-quantifiable values

Analogizes economists' position. They're like literary critics who (mistakenly) think sales are a better measure of a book's value than the literary quality of the book.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

According to the passage, economists ██████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████

Question Type

Stated

Economists define prosperity solely in terms of monetary value. In P4, they defend their definition against critics by claiming that prosperity should be defined in easily quantifiable terms and so shouldn’t include values like happiness or environmental health.

by claiming that ███████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ██████ ████████████

This is stated here. The economists defend their concept of prosperity by claiming that prosperity should be defined in easily quantifiable terms. Alternative definitions that include difficult-to-measure values like happiness or environmental health would not be easily quantifiable.

95%

by asserting that █████████████ ████████████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ████

The economists never state that environmental preservation can cause the loss of jobs. Instead, the rural community residents in P2 argue that harvest limitations might cause a loss of jobs in their community.

by citing the █████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████████ ██████

The economists do not cite the relevance of nonmonetary values; they argue that these values are difficult to measure and thus should not be included in the definition of prosperity. The critics cite the relevance of nonmonetary values like environmental health here.

by showing that ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████████ █████

The economists do not claim that natural beauty can be understood in quantifiable terms; they think that prosperity should be defined solely in monetary terms, since monetary value is quantifiable. The critics suggest that natural beauty is relevant to prosperity in P3.

by detailing the ██████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████

This isn’t stated in the passage; the economists never address the historical development of their definition of prosperity.

PrepTest 119 - Section 1 - Passage 1 - Question 4

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