The rise in the prosperity of England subsequent to 1840 can be attrib

Question

The rise in the prosperity of England subsequent to 1840 can be attributed to the adoption of the policy of free trade, since economic conditions improved only when that policy had been implemented.

The reasoning in the above argument most closely parallels that in which one of the following?

(A) An exhaustive search of the marshes last year revealed no sign of marsh hawks, so it can be assumed that a similar search this year would reveal equally little sign of that kind of bird.

(B) Building a circular bypass road around Plainfield probably helped the flow of local traffic in the town center, since a circular bypass road generally cuts a city’s through traffic markedly.

(C) Before the banks raised their interest rates, people on average incomes could almost afford a mortgage for an amount twice their salary, hence the rate increase has now put mortgages beyond their reach.

(D) Since the improvement in the company’s profitability began to occur after the vice president’s new morale-building program was put in place, that program can be credited with the improved result.

(E) The extinction of the dinosaurs was brought about by an asteroid colliding with Earth, so their extinction could not have come before the collision.

Abhishek0805 · Answer

The argument speaks about the impact of free trade policy for improvement in economic conditions.

Answer choice D resembles the same reasoning.

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IanStewart · Answer

The argument is a "post hoc ergo propter hoc" argument; one thing happened after another, so the argument concludes that the first thing caused the second thing. Without additional support, those kinds of arguments are flawed in the same way correlation/causation arguments are. Anyway, since that's the key logical feature of the original argument, we want an answer choice with the same pattern. Answer D gives us exactly that: the VP institutes a morale program, then profits increase, and answer D concludes that the morale program produced the profits.

ahabib · Answer

Break it down:

Policy Implemented -> Improvement followed, therefore policy to be credited.

Prethinking: A -> B, therefore B was caused by A.

Only  option (D)  fits this case.

unraveled · Answer

The rise in the prosperity of England subsequent to 1840 can be attributed to the adoption of the policy of free trade, since economic conditions improved only when that policy had been implemented.

The reasoning in the above argument most closely parallels that in which one of the following?

The reasoning in the above argument most closely parallels that in which one of the following?

(A) An exhaustive search of the marshes last year revealed no sign of marsh hawks, so it  can be assumed  that a similar search this year  would reveal  equally little sign of that kind of bird. - WRONG. Future possibility instead of a past happening. L

(B) Building a circular bypass road around Plainfield  probably helped  the flow of local traffic in the town center, since a circular bypass road  generally cuts a city’s through traffic markedly . - WRONG. Conditional type presentation when in the passage it is STATED.

(C) Before the banks raised their interest rates, people on average incomes could almost afford a mortgage for an amount twice their salary, hence the rate increase has  now put mortgages beyond their reach . - WRONG. Future possibility shown. Like A only.

(D) Since the improvement in the company’s profitability began to occur after the vice president’s new morale-building program was put in place, that program can be credited with the improved result. - CORRECT.

(E) The extinction of the dinosaurs was brought about by an asteroid colliding with Earth, so their extinction  could not  have come before the collision. - WRONG. "Not" breaks the flow of this choice.

Answer D.

CodingGmat · Answer

Why is option B eliminated here? 
Is it just because of the word "probably"?

unraveled   ahabib

unraveled · Answer

You can say that but additionally the logic also is not parallel to the original one. Grammatically, the usage of adverbs plays a spoilsport, changing the logic slightly.

The rise in the prosperity of England subsequent to 1840 can be attrib

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The rise in the prosperity of England subsequent to 1840 can be attrib

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