In Country K in the year 2000, farmers produced so much cotton that the market could not absorb all of it and the price of cotton fell precipitously. In the next year, the government of Country K introduced direct support payments to any cotton producers that would take 25 or more percent of their cotton acreage out of production. By mid-year 2002, cotton prices in Country K were back to the levels seen in 1999. The government claimed that its direct support payments were responsible for the rebound in prices. Each of the following, if true, would weaken the government's claim, EXCEPT: A.Between 1999 and mid-year 2002, Country K experienced rapid inflation. B.In the beginning of 2001, a large textile plant opened in Country K to take advantage of the country's low cotton prices. C.Almost all farmers refused to take any of their cotton acreage out of production. D.As a condition to receive government support payments, farmers were prohibited from using the old cotton acreage for other agricultural purposes. E.A large drought hit in Country J, next to Country K, wiping out that nation's cotton crops and causing a need to import cotton. I dont understand how the OA is correct and in relation to premise?

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In Country K in the year 2000, farmers produced so much

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blueseas

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03 Jul 2013, 09:38

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jaituteja

Ok... Got it.. Thanks..!!!!

Is the below reasoning correct to eliminate C..
"since farmers refused to bring cotton acreage out of production that means no cotton was provided to the market by farmers, hence, government orders were not able to apply to the cottons by farmers. That weakens option C, as no cotton( of farmers) in the market then to whom would the government orders be applied."

sorry but thats not the correct reasoning.

i will give one analogous example:
==>let suppose there are 5 students in GMAT club and BUNUEL is the only MODERATOR available to help.
==>now suppose each 5 student they initially used to ask 5 questions daily ...which BUNUEL was able to handle easily.
==>after some day question asked by each student increased to 10===> which BUNUEL was unable to handlle.
==>So BB MODERATOR in order to cope up this situation he announced that .....student who will reduce their question by 50 percent or more...will receive 5 kudos.
==>AFTER FEW days it was found that BUNUEL was comfortable and was back to normal.
==>BB concluded that because of this policy of kudos.....everything was back to normal.

now option C analogous will be:
nobody followed BBs policy.===>so what does this mean===>this mean they continued asking 10 question each day.====>but still if BUNUEL is comfortable in his work.,then dont you think that this is weakening the conclusion.

so similarly in our question...cotton is available in the market but the farmers are not following the government acreage policy.

hope it helps
:-D

jaituteja

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03 Jul 2013, 20:59

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shaileshmishra

jaituteja

THanks again for the explanantion...

It really does help..!!!

In C, it is not stated that cotton is available in the market, only the prices regained their level...
THe farmers did not agree to bring cotton out of production, thought the government policy was not applied.. This is weakening as something else rose the prices of cotton...

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29 Aug 2015, 21:38

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Hi,

How could E weaken the conclusion.It is nowhere stated that the neighbouring country J imports cotton from K.It is only stated that th drought has hit the country J prompting it to import cotton.It could import cotton from countries other than K.In that case E can also be the answer.

Cheers!!!

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31 Aug 2015, 01:16

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tvrs09

Its nowhere mentioned anything about some other country other than Country J & K as well. Just because there is always a possibility that Country J, can import from Country K, it is a potential weakener.

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30 May 2017, 23:56

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Official Explanation
The question asks for information that would "weaken" the claim, making this a Weaken question. However, the EXCEPT is important. That indicates that the four wrong answers will weaken the argument. The correct answer will not; it will either strengthen the argument or be irrelevant. According to the stimulus, the government of Country K claims that its direct support payment program was responsible for raising the prices of cotton. The evidence is that the cotton prices happened to have rebounded after the program began.

This argument is causal in nature: the government believes that its program caused the increase in prices. In order to weaken such an argument, you can show that either the causality is reversed or that some other factor caused the increase in prices. Reversing causality does not make sense here; increased prices would not have caused the program to take place. So, expect that the four wrong answers will suggest alternative explanations for the increased prices. The correct answer will not.

(D) is correct, as it has no effect on the government's argument. What farmers did with the land is irrelevant. As long as they didn't use it for cotton, the author still has an argument: the program could be responsible for the higher cotton prices.

(A) weakens the argument by suggesting it was inflation, and not the program, that caused prices to rise.

(B) and (E) weaken the argument by suggesting that price increases could have been caused by increased demand, not the government program. With (B), cotton was needed by the new textile company. With (E), cotton was needed by a neighboring country that lost its cotton crops.

(C) does not provide an exact other reason for the increase in prices, but it does suggest that the government program was not responsible. If almost no farmers took cotton acreage out of production, they didn't take part in the program. That means there must have been another cause of the increased prices.

TAKEAWAY: When someone claims that one plan was responsible for a certain result, that argument can most easily be weakened by raising other possible causes.

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31 May 2017, 00:12

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they have mentioned other agricultural purpose . what difference does it makes if the farmer used it for farming anything other than cotton .

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