likitwill wrote:
Hi
GMATNinja,
I got all questions correct but I'm still unclear on one point: whether the increasing interaction between governments and global corps
lead to the trend toward regional trading blocs, or the other way around?
The passage says "the international economic environment will be shaped...by the interaction between governments and global corporations" and "A significant factor in this shifting world economy is the trend toward regional trading blocs of nations..." It sounds to me like both the interaction and the trend toward regional trading blocs are separate causes of the shift.
I couldn't clearly define the relationship between these two, could you please help clear this up?
Thanks so much!
Good question! To answer it, let's consider how the logic of the passage proceeds.
First, the passage tells that the role of global corporations is expanding. This, in turn, will increase the importance of interactions between governments and global corporations.
Next, we're told about "another significant factor" in the "shifting world economy" -- namely, a trend towards regional trading blocks. The author then gives examples of this trend, contrasts some of their differences, and points out how they will both affect the world economy.
So do increasing interactions between governments and corporations lead to regional trading blocks, or the other way around? While that's an interesting question, the passage doesn't give us much information to answer it. The passage doesn't rule out the possibility that these two trends could affect each other, but it doesn't really support it either. Rather, the passage merely suggests that both trends are important aspects of the shifting world economy.
In general, reading comp passages may raise interesting questions that they don't answer. But that doesn't mean we missed something as readers -- it's just that the passages often provide limited information. So drawing a distinction between what ideas can be reasonably supported and what can't is often a useful skill.
I hope that helps!