PrepTest 78, Section 3, Question 4
According to economists, people's tendency to purchase a given commodity is inversely proportional to its price. When new techniques produced cheaper steel, more steel was purchased. Nevertheless, once machine-produced lace became available, at much lower prices than the handcrafted variety, lace no longer served to advertise its wearers' wealth and the lace market collapsed. Obviously, then, there are exceptions to the economists' general rule.
According to economists, people's tendency to purchase a given commodity is inversely proportional to its price. When new techniques produced cheaper steel, more steel was purchased. Nevertheless, once machine-produced lace became available, at much lower prices than the handcrafted variety, lace no longer served to advertise its wearers' wealth and the lace market collapsed. Obviously, then, there are exceptions to the economists' general rule.
According to economists, people's tendency to purchase a given commodity is inversely proportional to its price. When new techniques produced cheaper steel, more steel was purchased. Nevertheless, once machine-produced lace became available, at much lower prices than the handcrafted variety, lace no longer served to advertise its wearers' wealth and the lace market collapsed. Obviously, then, there are exceptions to the economists' general rule.
According to economists, people's tendency to purchase a given commodity is inversely proportional to its price. When new techniques produced cheaper steel, more steel was purchased. Nevertheless, once machine-produced lace became available, at much lower prices than the handcrafted variety, lace no longer served to advertise its wearers' wealth and the lace market collapsed. Obviously, then, there are exceptions to the economists' general rule.
The claim that more steel was purchased when it could be manufactured more cheaply plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
It is described as inadequate evidence for the falsity of the argument's conclusion.
It is described as an exception to a generalization for which the argument offers evidence.
It is used to illustrate the generalization that, according to the argument, does not hold in all cases.
It is the evidence that, according to the argument, led economists to embrace a false hypothesis.
It is cited as one of several reasons for modifying a general assumption made by economists.
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