PT145.S1.P2.Q8 > Analytics

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The following passage is adapted from an article published in 1993.

Question · How severe should punishment be for corporate crime?

E.g., crime where a corporation profits from harming consumers

Economists' Answer · Depends solely on a cost-benefit analysis

E.g., if profits were $6 million, then a fine in excess of that would suffice

Economists' Answer · Punishment should only affect earnings

Morality should not be a factor in determining the punishment

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Critique / Major Premise · Economists' approach is impractical

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Sub-premise · Cost-benefit analysis must account for estimated detection ratios

Not every crime is detected. If corporations were punished only for the crimes that are detected, they would actually be incentivized to keep committing the crime and reaping profits.

Sub-premise · Accounting for detection ratios greatly increases severity of financial penalites

E.g., if detection ratio is 1-in-10, then the penalty has to be at least 10 times profit. If penalty is only, say 5x profit, then it's worth it for the company to keep committing that crime.

Sub-premise · Actual detection ration is closer to 1-in-10

Such high fines might put corporations out of business and throw thousands of people out of work. That's not practical.

Main Point · Another criterion for punishment, in addition to cost-benefit analysis, must be considered

For example, we could assign moral weight to particular crimes to determine a punishment that is just and practical

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

If the author advocates a view, the main point should capture that view. Here, the author argues that some other criterion besides cost/benefit is necessary when determining penalties for corporate crimes. This view is expressed at the end of the passage: “Thus, some other criterion in addition to the reckoning of cost and benefit—such as the assignment of moral weight to particular crimes—is necessary so that penalties for corporate crimes will be practical as well as just.”

Because not all █████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ██ ██ ████ █████████ ███ █████

The author does believe detection ratios should be taken into account, but she also argues that this isn’t enough to make for a practical and fair punishment. (A) doesn’t capture the author’s advocacy for using some other criterion besides cost/benefit.

10%

The reckoning of ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ ██ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ █████████ ██ ██ ████ █████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████████

This doesn’t capture the author’s advocacy for using some other criterion besides cost/benefit.

Because they argue ████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████

This doesn’t capture the author’s advocacy for using some other criterion besides cost/benefit.

Because it does ███ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ █████████ ███ ██ ████ █ ███████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██████

This doesn’t capture the author’s advocacy for using some other criterion besides cost/benefit.

10%

Because the need ██ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██████████

This best captures the author’s view that we need some other criterion besides cost/benefit when determining punishment for corporate crimes.

75%

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