Columnist: It may soon be possible for an economy to function without

Question

Columnist: It may soon be possible for an economy to function without paper money. Instead, the government would electronically record all transactions as they take place. However, while this may be technologically feasible it would never be willingly accepted by a society, for it gives the government too much power. People are rightly distrustful of governments with too much power.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the overall conclusion of the columnist's argument?

(A) A society would never willingly accept a system in which, in lieu of paper money, the government keeps track of every transaction electronically.

(B) It is reasonable for people to distrust a government that has too much power.

(C) New technology may soon make it possible for an economy to operate without paper money.

(D) People are right to be unwilling to give the government the power it would need to operate an economy without paper money.

(E) Even though it may be technologically feasible, no government will be able to operate an economy without the use of paper money.

suchita2409 · Answer

(A) A society would never willingly accept a system in which, in lieu of paper money, the government keeps track of every transaction electronically.
Correct.

(B) It is reasonable for people to distrust a government that has too much power.
Incorrect.
Why is it reasonable for people to distrust government with too much power we don't know.

(C) New technology may soon make it possible for an economy to operate without paper money.

Incorrect.
It is possible, but will people agree to that ?

(D) People are right to be unwilling to give the government the power it would need to operate an economy without paper money.

Incorrect.
We don't know why people are right to be unwilling to give government that much power.

(E) Even though it may be technologically feasible, no government will be able to operate an economy without the use of paper money.

Incorrect.
How do we know that government won't be able to operate an economy??

Posted from my mobile device

EP2620 · Answer

Columnist: It may soon be possible for an economy to function without paper money. Instead, the government would electronically record all transactions as they take place. However, while this may be technologically feasible it would never be willingly accepted by a society, for it gives the government too much power. People are rightly distrustful of governments with too much power.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the  overall conclusion  of the columnist's argument?

(A) A society would never willingly accept a system in which, in lieu of paper money, the government keeps track of every transaction electronically.
Looks fine, keep

(B) It is reasonable for people to distrust a government that has too much power.
Can be concluded from the last line, not the overall conclusion- eliminate option

(C) New technology may soon make it possible for an economy to operate without paper money.
Again, not the overall conclusion - eliminate

(D) People are right to be unwilling to give the government the power it would need to operate an economy without paper money.
Looks fine, keep

(E) Even though it may be technologically feasible,  no government will be able to operate  an economy without the use of paper money.
The passage doesn't talk about what the government will or won't be able to do; the focus here primarily on the society's response to a government action- eliminate

Now, between A and D, I chose D because A can simply be concluded from the sentence  while this may be technologically feasible it would never be willingly accepted by a society, for it gives the government too much power . Had A been the answer, the author would not have added the last sentence. By saying that  people are rightly distrustful of governments with too much power , the author approves of society's disapproval, and option D perfectly captures the author's take:

People are right  to be unwilling to give the government the power it would need to operate an economy without paper money

EP2620 · Answer

GMATNinja  : could you help out with this one? Why is option A better than option D?

NeoNguyen1989 · Answer

Main idea:  too soon to operate a society without paper money <= the challenge is not with feasibility but with unwillingness of society to accept that govern record their transaction, the unwillingness that is justified. The conclusion will shortly summarize along the idea.

Explanation 
A - correct: concisely capture the main idea 
B - incorrect: there is no author' judgement about the rightfulness of society. Plus, this option miss the whole idea that the society will never accept
C - incorrect: similar to B, this option miss the whole idea that society will never accept that the government has too control over it 
D - incorrect: there is no mention of author' judgement, whether right or wrong the fact the society's feeling, and also it miss out that assessment that the society that is in lieu of paper money is not feasible
E - incorrect: it wrongly state that the government will not be able; the gov is totally able to do but can't realize such ability because society will be unwilling

chaitralirr · Answer

Columnist: It may soon be possible for an economy to function without paper money. Instead, the government would electronically record all transactions as they take place. However, while this may be technologically feasible it would never be willingly accepted by a society, for it gives the government too much power. People are rightly distrustful of governments with too much power.

Stimulus: columnist states that it may be too soon for an economy to function without paper money instead the government will record the electronic transactions as they take place. While this may be technologically possible it will never be willingly accepted by society for it gives the government too much power. People are distrustful of giving government too much power.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the overall conclusion of the columnist's argument?

(A) A society would never willingly accept a system in which, in lieu of paper money, the government keeps track of every transaction electronically.

(B) It is reasonable for people to distrust a government that has too much power.  not mentioned in the stimulus

(C) New technology may soon make it possible for an economy to operate without paper money.  the columnist states that technologically possible not will be possible. Hence can be eliminated

(D) People are right to be unwilling to give the government the power it would need to operate an economy without paper money.  not stated whether people are right or wrong

(E) Even though it may be technologically feasible, no government will be able to operate an economy without the use of paper money.
The passage doesn't talk about what the government will or won't be able to do; the focus here primarily on the society's response to a government action- eliminate

IMO A

Harsh2111s · Answer

Hi EP2620 Option D has bent few facts As per arguments "However, while this may be technologically feasible it would never be willingly accepted by a society, for it gives the government too much power. People are rightly distrustful of governments with too much power." But option D says " People are right to be unwilling to give the government the power it would need to operate an economy without paper money." Thus we don't know whether people are right or wrong to be unwilling to give the government the power. However we are certain people are rightly distrustful towards government with too much power. Hope this helps

EP2620 · Answer

Fantastic! Thanks so much for pointing out the difference,  Harsh2111s !

Do you know of any other problem sets that have these kind of trap answers?

agrasan · Answer

Hi experts  GMATNinja   KarishmaB   MartyMurray   GMATNinjaTwo

(D) People are right to be unwilling to give the government the power it would need to operate an economy without paper money.

Is option D wrong because the argument ".....technologically feasible it would never be willingly accepted by a society, for it gives the government too much power" says that society won't accept electronically recorded transactions because it will give too much power to the government whereas option D just talks about people not willing the power to government to operate without paper money, it doesn't give the exact reason as mentioned in the argument, hence, not an overall conclusion.

Please let me know if this reasoning is correct or wrong somewhere.

hemi11984 · Answer

The columnist argues that while it may be technologically possible for an economy to function without paper money, society would not accept such a system due to the fear of giving the government too much power. The conclusion of the argument is that people would be right to resist a system where the government has such power.
The most accurate expression of the columnist's overall conclusion is:
 (D) People are right to be unwilling to give the government the power it would need to operate an economy without paper money. 
This option directly reflects the argument that people are justified in their reluctance to allow the government to have too much power over transactions, which would be a consequence of operating without paper money.

Columnist: It may soon be possible for an economy to function without

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Columnist: It may soon be possible for an economy to function without

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards