Smith argued that recreational equipment owned in common by community members would always be used less carefully than would private recreational equipment. Each member would have an incentive to overuse the equipment and leave any damage unreported because the benefit would accrue to the individual, while the costs of maintaining, repairing, and replacing the equipment would be spread among all users. But a study comparing 200 sailboats owned cooperatively by the Bayside Recreation League and 370 sailboats owned privately showed that the recreation league sailboats were in better condition.

Which of the following, if true and known by the Bayside members, would best help explain the results of the study?

With private sailboats, both the costs and the benefits of avoiding any repairs fall to the individual owner.
For boats that are used by many different people, it is difficult to attribute the costs of maintenance and repair to the wear and tear caused by any individual user.
Routine inspections and repairs of recreation league sailboats are conducted during the winter months, not during the May – September sailing season.
If one Bayside member causes even minor damage to a sailboat without paying for the repair, other members will do so even more, and the costs to each user will outweigh the benefits.
There are many more private sailboats than cooperatively-owned sailboats.

Conclusion: Publicly owned things are in better condition than privately owned
Evidence: study supports the numbers, maintenance cost would be spread across all members

which of the following if true... would best explain... means this is an assumption question.

What is unstated - that the rising maintenance costs will prevent public users from damaging the boats further

Ans. D supports the argument well.

+1 D
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cheers
Mayank
My GMAT Journey: 720 + dare = 760