skmaan wrote:
Hi,
Between B & C :
(B) Reliable comparisons of the deficit figures of one country with those of another are impossible.
The passage mentions comparison of adjusted deficit figures > Implying deficit figures are not comparable reliably 'without adjustment' >> Why does it not come under 'impossible' if it gives a condition (Is it not a necessary condition?))
(C) Reducing a country’s national budget deficit will not necessarily result in a lowering of any trade deficit that country may have.
Follow Up>> How to go by selecting best of two shortlisted options?, eg in above I was fine with C & B both but selected B as I figured para talks about a necessary condition
The argument says that when deficit figures are adjusted so that different countries are reliably comparable to each other, there is no correlation between countries having the largest budget deficits and countries having the largest trade deficits.
(B) doesn't say that reliable comparisons of deficit figures of one country with those of another are impossible
without adjustment. If it did, then (B) might become a more inviting answer choice. Instead, it simply says that reliable deficit comparisons across countries are impossible, period. In contrast, the argument tells us that those comparisons
are possible, though with the provision that making the comparisons reliably does require adjustment.
What is that adjustment? We don't know. Perhaps we have to adjust by converting all numbers into a single equivalent currency so that we can properly compare them. Perhaps different countries release budget and trade deficit numbers at different times of the year, and some adjustment has to be undertaken to ensure that the differing timing is accounted for and doesn't improperly skew the comparison. Perhaps we need to control for inflation or some additional country-specific factor(s).
Again, we don't know what adjustment needs to be made, but we also don't need to know. The argument tells us that the adjustment
is possible, which means that the reliable comparison is also possible. Hence, we discard (B) and stick with (C).
I hope this helps!