Politician: Those economists who claim that consumer price increases

Question

Politician: Those economists who claim that consumer price increases have averaged less than 3 percent over the last year are mistaken. They clearly have not shopped anywhere recently. Gasoline is up 10 percent over the last year; my auto insurance, 12 percent; newspapers, 15 percent; propane, 13%; bread, 50 percent.

The reasoning in the politician’s argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument

A. impugns the character of the economists rather than addressing their arguments

B. fails to show that the economists mentioned are not experts in the area of consumer prices

C. mistakenly infers that something is not true from the claim that it has not been shown to be so

D. uses evidence drawn from a small sample that may well be unrepresentative

E. attempts to persuade by making an emotional appeal

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siddhantvarma · Answer

Argument: The politician claims that economists are wrong to say consumer prices have averaged less than 3% increase over the last year.
Evidence: the prices of gasoline, auto insurance, newspapers, propane, and bread have increased significantly.

We can pre-think that he basis his reasoning on a few items and assumes the items he mentioned represent all consumer prices. However, there can be more items that he hasn't mentioned that could overall bring the consumer prices average increase to be less than 3%.

A. impugns the character of the economists rather than addressing their arguments
❌ He doesn’t attack their character, just says they "haven't shopped anywhere recently".

B. fails to show that the economists mentioned are not experts in the area of consumer prices
❌ Irrelevant. He’s not questioning their expertise, he’s disputing their numbers and countering their conclusion by presenting some evidence.

C. mistakenly infers that something is not true from the claim that it has not been shown to be so
❌ The politician isn't inferring something is untrue because it hasn't been proven; rather, they're offering what they consider to be contradictory evidence.

D. uses evidence drawn from a small sample that may well be unrepresentative
✅ 
Aligns with our pre-thinking. The politician generalizes from his personal shopping experiences, which is a small and possibly biased sample, rather than considering the whole range of consumer goods and services. Keep.

E. attempts to persuade by making an emotional appeal
❌ There’s no emotional argument here - eliminate.

Correct Answer: D

Dereno · Answer

The correct answer is  D. uses evidence drawn from a small sample that may well be unrepresentative .

Explanation:

The politician points to specific examples of price increases in certain goods (gasoline, auto insurance, newspapers, etc.) to argue that consumer prices have increased by much more than the economists claim. However, the politician’s argument is based on a small sample of specific goods and does not necessarily represent the overall average price increase across a broader range of goods and services.

Economists typically measure inflation by looking at a broad basket of goods and services, not just a few selected items. By focusing only on a small, possibly unrepresentative sample, the politician's argument is vulnerable to criticism for not providing a comprehensive or accurate portrayal of the overall price increase.

Here's why the other options are less appropriate:

A  (impugns the character of the economists): The politician does not attack the character of the economists directly; they criticize their claims.  
   B  (fails to show the economists are not experts): The politician doesn’t question the expertise of the economists but instead disputes their findings.  
   C  (mistakenly infers something is false from lack of evidence): The argument is not based on a lack of evidence, but rather a disagreement over the observed data.  
   E  (emotional appeal): The politician's argument is not primarily designed to evoke an emotional response, but to present specific examples of price increases.   
Thus,  D  is the most accurate criticism of the politician's argument.

GMATking94 · Answer

the answer should be D clearly as he mentions himself in the argument.

other options are way too far to consider as the answer.

DmitryFarber · Answer

This isn't a very good question. Sure, these particular cases may happen not to be representative, but they aren't really a small sample. That's a pretty wide range of products. Sure, "my auto insurance" is weird--maybe he just had a policy change--but the rest cover a lot of territory. Sure, he may be cherry-picking items that have seen increases, but if the price of bread had increased 50% across the board, wouldn't you think it would be safe to say something was going on with prices?

aoneraju · Answer

In option D 'few' should be used instead 'small' then only it reflects what it intents

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The correct answer choice is (D).

The politician’s argument is that the claims that price increases have averaged less than 3 percent are wrong, and in support of that position the politician cites several examples of price increases, each of which is greater than 3 percent. As mentioned in one of the chapter sidebars, “an average is a composite number, and within the average there can be a significant degree of variation and no single entity need embody the exact characteristic of the average (for example, the average weight of a 1 pound rock and a 99 pound rock is 50 pounds).” In making the argument, the politician has focused in on several individual examples while ignoring the fact that an average is a compilation of many different numbers. Answer choice (D) perfectly captures the essence of this sampling error.

Answer choice (A): The argument does not contain a source or ad hominem attack. Simply stating that a position is wrong is different than criticizing the character of that person.

Answer choice (B): To claim that the economists are wrong does not require showing that they are not pricing experts, and hence this answer is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): The politician attempts to refute the position by providing evidence about large price increases for certain products. This process, which involves facts, is different than inferring that a claim is false because it has not been shown to be true. This answer choice would better describe an argument such as the following: “you have not proven that God exists, so there must be no God.”

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer.  Citing several examples to refute an average is a doomed strategy.

Answer choice (E): There is no appeal to emotion present; percentages are used to make the argument.

Politician: Those economists who claim that consumer price increases

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Politician: Those economists who claim that consumer price increases

Prep Toolkit

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