maybeam
Goronian lawmaker: Goronia's Cheese Importation Board, the agency responsible for inspecting all wholesale shipments of cheese entering Goronia from abroad and rejecting shipments that fail to meet specified standards, rejects about one percent of the cheese that it inspects. Since the health consequences and associated costs of not rejecting that one percent would be negligible, whereas the cost of maintaining the agency is not, the agency's cost clearly outweighs the benefits it provides.
Knowing the answer to which of the following would be most useful in evaluating the lawmaker's argument?
A. Are any of the types of cheeses that are imported into Goronia also produced in Goronia?
B. Has the Cheese Importation Board, over the last several years, reduced its operating costs by eliminating inefficiencies within the agency itself?
C. Does the possibility of having merchandise rejected by the Cheese Importation Board deter many cheese exporters from shipping substandard cheese to Goronia?
D. Are there any exporters of cheese to Goronia whose merchandise is never rejected by the Cheese Importation Board?
E. How is the cheese rejected by the Cheese Importation Board disposed of?
Premises:Cheese Board, the agency responsible for inspecting all wholesale shipments of cheese entering Goronia from abroad and rejecting shipments that fail to meet specified standards, rejects about 1% of the cheese that it inspects.
The health consequences and associated costs of not rejecting that one percent would be negligible.
The cost of maintaining the agency is not negligible.
Conclusion: The agency's cost clearly outweighs the benefits it provides.
We need to evaluate whether the agency’s cost does outweigh the benefits. Are there any other benefits it provides that make its cost worthwhile?
(A) Are any of the types of cheeses that are imported into Goronia also produced in Goronia?It doesn’t matter whether the imported cheese are locally produced too. Closing down the agency will not impact the import of cheese in any way. It will only stop its inspection. We are looking for some additional benefit of the agency.
(B) Has the Cheese Importation Board, over the last several years, reduced its operating costs by eliminating inefficiencies within the agency itself?Whether its cost has reduced or not doesn’t matter. We are saying that currently its benefits do not justify its cost, whatever that may be since health consequences and associated costs of not rejecting that 1% are negligible. So, whatever the current cost is, high or low, it is still not justified.
(C) Does the possibility of having merchandise rejected by the Cheese Importation Board deter many cheese exporters from shipping substandard cheese to Goronia?Yes, this option tells us that the agency provides another benefit – deterrence. The cost of not having a deterrent to ensure good quality could be high.
If we answer
“Yes” – The board does deter many cheese exporters from shipping substandard cheese. Then possibly, the agency’s benefits outweigh costs.
“No” – The board does not deter many cheese exporters from shipping substandard cheese i.e. suppliers will not start sending substandard cheese. They will maintain the quality and only 1% will be substandard (as it is now). Then possibly, the agency’s costs outweigh its benefits.
The two answers affect the conclusion differently. Hence, this is the correct option.
(D) Are there any exporters of cheese to Goronia whose merchandise is never rejected by the Cheese Importation Board?Any particular exporters are out of scope of our argument.
(E) How is the cheese rejected by the Cheese Importation Board disposed of?Irrelevant
Answer (C)Discussion on Useful to Evaluate Questions:
https://youtu.be/1JtHjH1lWZc