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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
55%
(hard)
Question Stats:
62% (01:58) correct
38%
(01:58)
wrong
based on 260
sessions
History
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Domestic agriculture is struggling because agriculture from overseas is available at lower prices. Since improved agrarian technology would enable domestic farmers to produce agriculture at more competitive costs, to improve the competitiveness of domestic agriculture, the government plans to subsidize domestic farmers, because as it pays subsidies directly to these domestic farmers, the farmers will have the funds they need to invest in technology.
Which of the following, if true, raises the most serious doubt regarding the effectiveness of the government's plan to improve the competitiveness of domestic agriculture?
A. The cost benefits of investing in agrarian technology could take several years to manifest.
B. Overseas farmers might have some competitive advantage over domestic farmers other than price competitiveness.
C. Domestic producers of agriculture have some incentive not use the subsidies to invest in agrarian technology.
D. The technological enhancement will be valid only for two years, after which competitors in other countries would have outpaced the capabilities of domestic agriculture.
E. The subsidies paid to domestic farmers will come out of national tax funds that would be better spent in other ways.
Which of the following, if true, raises the most serious doubt regarding the effectiveness of the government's plan to improve the competitiveness of domestic agriculture?
A. The cost benefits of investing in agrarian technology could take several years to manifest.
B. Overseas farmers might have some competitive advantage over domestic farmers other than price competitiveness.
C. Domestic producers of agriculture have some incentive not use the subsidies to invest in agrarian technology.
D. The technological enhancement will be valid only for two years, after which competitors in other countries would have outpaced the capabilities of domestic agriculture.
E. The subsidies paid to domestic farmers will come out of national tax funds that would be better spent in other ways.
14 Aug 2025, 10:57
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The government's plan is to pay direct subsidies to domestic farmers—reasoning that the farmers will then spend those funds on technology to make their products more competitive with those of foreign producers.
To "cast doubt on the plan", we need a hypothetical situation why this plan WON'T WORK IF IT'S TRIED. In other words, we need an answer choice that helps argue that, IF the government pays subsidies to farmers as described, the farmers WON'T end up investing in agricultural technology.
Choice C says the farmers would probably go spend the money on something else instead, so, that's the choice we want. (If a problem with this approximate structure were to appear on the real GMAT, the correct answer would almost certainly describe a specific non-technological purpose for which the farmers would spend the money instead.)
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Wrong answers:
A/ The argument doesn't say anything about the timeline on which the farmers might reap returns on their investment, so a longer timeline doesn't affect the reasoning.
B/ The first sentence of the paragraph definitively tells us that "Domestic agriculture is struggling because agriculture from overseas is available at lower prices". Since we know that domestic farmers are being outcompeted on prices, we also know that any technology that would allow the farmers to price their crops more competitively WILL help make them more competitive on the global market, since it will factually help address the shortcoming described in the first sentence.
Even if domestic farmers are also behind their international competition on other measures, this logic is still sound—since the goal is only to improve the competitiveness of domestic farmers. (If the paragraph had said "To put domestic farmers in a position to outcompete their counterparts in other countries...", THEN this could be the correct answer choice—because in that case all of the domestic farmers' competitive weaknesses would contribute to the outcome.)
D/ Like choice A, this is irrelevant because the original argument isn't subject to any particular timeline. In this case the domestic farmers' improved competitiveness would be short-lived unless they could build on it during those two years—but the argument that they WOULD gain competitive improvements for at least those 2 years is still sound.
E/ We're only concerned with whether this one particular plan would work as laid out. Alternative uses of the same tax money are not in consideration here.
To "cast doubt on the plan", we need a hypothetical situation why this plan WON'T WORK IF IT'S TRIED. In other words, we need an answer choice that helps argue that, IF the government pays subsidies to farmers as described, the farmers WON'T end up investing in agricultural technology.
Choice C says the farmers would probably go spend the money on something else instead, so, that's the choice we want. (If a problem with this approximate structure were to appear on the real GMAT, the correct answer would almost certainly describe a specific non-technological purpose for which the farmers would spend the money instead.)
.
Wrong answers:
A/ The argument doesn't say anything about the timeline on which the farmers might reap returns on their investment, so a longer timeline doesn't affect the reasoning.
B/ The first sentence of the paragraph definitively tells us that "Domestic agriculture is struggling because agriculture from overseas is available at lower prices". Since we know that domestic farmers are being outcompeted on prices, we also know that any technology that would allow the farmers to price their crops more competitively WILL help make them more competitive on the global market, since it will factually help address the shortcoming described in the first sentence.
Even if domestic farmers are also behind their international competition on other measures, this logic is still sound—since the goal is only to improve the competitiveness of domestic farmers. (If the paragraph had said "To put domestic farmers in a position to outcompete their counterparts in other countries...", THEN this could be the correct answer choice—because in that case all of the domestic farmers' competitive weaknesses would contribute to the outcome.)
D/ Like choice A, this is irrelevant because the original argument isn't subject to any particular timeline. In this case the domestic farmers' improved competitiveness would be short-lived unless they could build on it during those two years—but the argument that they WOULD gain competitive improvements for at least those 2 years is still sound.
E/ We're only concerned with whether this one particular plan would work as laid out. Alternative uses of the same tax money are not in consideration here.
07 Sep 2025, 17:15
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Official Explanation
Reading the question: the prompt gives a plan, and the question stem asks us to cast doubt on the plan. We care about whether or not domestic agriculture improves in competitiveness. So we can use that as a basic filter and ask of each answer choice, "does or could domestic agriculture still improve in competitiveness?"
Applying the filter: choice (A) is irrelevant, because the domestic agriculture could still improve in competitiveness; the plan doesn't have a deadline. Choice (B) tells us that competitors might still have an advantage. But even then, the domestic agriculture may be in a better relative position that it was before; the gap has narrowed; it has improved. So (B) is out. Choice (C) looks promising; if domestic farmers pocket the money, domestic agriculture does not become more competitive. So choice (C) stays in. (D) is hardly great news, but the domestic agriculture could still improve in competitiveness. So (D) is out. We eliminate (E), also, since (E) raises considerations immaterial to whether the plan will work. We're left with (C).
Logical proof: we can apply the negation test to (C). If we negate (C), domestic producers of agriculture have lots of incentive to use the subsidies to invest in agrarian technology. In that case, the expectation that domestic agriculture would improve in competitiveness is strengthened. The fact that the negated (C) is a strengthener confirms that non-negated (C) is a weakener.
The correct answer is (C).
