| Critical Reasoning Butler: May 2025 |
| May 13 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
_________________________
CR 1 Management consultant: It is broadly true that pharmaceutical firms that employ sales representatives to persuade doctors to prescribe certain medications charge less for their products than do those that do not employ sales representatives. It is also true that
each time the restrictions on the use of pharmaceutical sales representatives have been relaxed, the number of firms employing sales representatives has increased, and consequently, medical costs to consumers have declined. However, eliminating the requirement that the sales representatives must provide a detailed report comparing prices of their products with those of competing products would almost certainly increase rather than decrease medical costs. The firms would no longer be incentivized to lower drug costs when they begin employing sales representatives and
if no longer required to provide the necessary price comparison report, many firms that now employ sales representatives would increase the medications’ price.In the management consultant’s argument, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
(A) The first is a generalization accepted as true by the management consultant; the second is presented as a consequence that follows from the truth of that generalization.
(B) The first is a cause-effect pattern that the management consultant predicts will not hold in the case at issue; the second offers a consideration supporting that prediction.
(C) The first is a cause-effect pattern that the management consultant argues will repeat in the case at issue; the second recognizes a circumstance in which that pattern would not hold.
(D) The first is evidence offered by the management consultant in support of a certain prediction; the second is that prediction.
(E) The first recognizes a consideration that weighs against the main position that the management consultant defends; the second is that position.
_________________________
CR 2 Public-private partnerships are cooperative arrangements wherein government and private sector entities work together to complete a project or provide a service to the population. Since the core purpose of the government is to provide material resources and services to ensure the well-being of the public, any task that can be performed more efficiently through a public-private partnership should be done so.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. If the government decides to work with private sector entities on a project or service, it can usually take advantage of the strong competition that arises among the multiple firms interested in working on that project or service.
B. When a government agency decides to partner with a private entity on a project or service, the private entity sometimes hires government employees who formerly worked on similar projects and services.
C. Certain tasks, such as construction, are commonly conducted through public-private partnerships, whereas others such as defense and law enforcement are not.
D. For a government agency to manage a product or provide a service as effectively as a private sector entity can, the officials involved need to be experts in the relevant areas, as the people in charge of the same at the private entity are.
E. A successful public-private partnership requires the government to provide the private sector entity with information about the population that the private sector entity can potentially use to exploit people.