Self-study
Economist: If the belief were to become widespread that losing one's job is not a sign of personal shortcomings but instead an effect of impersonal social forces (which is surely correct), there would be growth in the societal demand for more government control of the economy to protect individuals from these forces, just as the government now protects them from military invasion. ████ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ █████████ ████████
Summary
The stimulus gives us a causal chain. If the belief that getting fired is a product of social forces becomes widespread, that will increase demands for more extensive government control of the economy. If the government begins to control the economy more extensively, that will lead to economic disaster. We’re also told that the belief that getting fired is a product of social forces is accurate.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Some accurate beliefs that become widespread might lead to negative consequences.
10.
The economist's statements, if true, ████ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Increased knowledge of ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ ██ ████████ █████████
Strongly supported. We’re told that the belief social forces are responsible for job losses is correct. We also know that this belief, if widespread, can lead to economic disaster. So, if more people start to hold this correct belief, that might lead to economic disaster.
b
An individual's belief ██ ███ ██ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ███████
Unsupported. We don’t know what can reliably protect against social forces. If anything, this is antisupported, because we know job losses aren’t caused by personal shortcomings. This suggests even if people didn’t have those shortcomings, that wouldn’t prevent job loss.
c
Governments should never █████████ ████ ████████ ███████
Unsupported. Although extensive government control can lead to economic disaster, that doesn’t suggest other, less extensive, kinds of government involvement with the economy would be harmful.
d
Societal demand for ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████
Unsupported. The stimulus says this will happen if the belief mentioned becomes widespread. But we don’t know if the belief is becoming more widespread.
e
In general, people ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████████
Unsupported. Military invasions are mentioned as something that the government protects us against. But there’s no comparison made between military invasions and economic disasters concerning the responsibility people should feel.