Self-study
Economist: Many of my colleagues are arguing that interest rates should be further lowered in order to stimulate economic growth. ████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ █ ███████████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The economist concludes that there is no reason to lower interest rates. She supports this by saying that it’s not necessary to stimulate economic growth because the economy is already growing at a sustainable rate.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The economist undermines one reason for lowering interest rates and then concludes that there is no reason to lower them at all. In other words, her reasoning is questionable because she ignores other possible reasons for lowering interest rates, assuming that economic stimulation is the only one.
15.
The reasoning in the economist's ████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████
a
relies solely on ███ █████████ ██ ███████
The economist doesn’t rely on the testimony of experts at all. If anything, she opposes the testimony of experts by countering her colleagues’ position that interest rates should be lowered.
b
confuses economic growth ████ ████ ██████████ ██
The economist doesn’t confuse economic growth with what stimulates it; she never argues that lower interest rates are economic growth. She distinguishes between these ideas in her argument, saying that interest rates shouldn’t be lowered and that economic growth is stable.
c
presumes that a ████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ███
The economist concludes that there is no reason to lower interest rates simply because she weakened one reason. She ignores other possible reasons for lowering interest rates, assuming that economic stimulation is the only one.
d
takes what is ██████ ███ ███ ██ ███████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ███████████ ████████ ██████
The economist says that economic stimulation isn’t needed because the economy is stable. She never assumes that lowering interest rates is the only way of stimulating the economy. Instead, she assumes that stimulating the economy is the only reason to lower interest rates.
e
concludes that a ███████ █████████ ██ ████████ █████ █████ ████ ██ █████████████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ █ ███████████ ████
The economist’s conclusion is that there’s no reason to lower interest rates. She doesn’t conclude that further lowering them will cause unstable economic growth. She simply says that further lowering interest rates is unnecessary because economic growth is already stable.