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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 27 Jun 2019, 17:19
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Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

United States manufacturers produce most of the world's solar-power generators—most of which are exported to Europe. However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.


(A) some United States manufacturers have been substantially increasing their output over the last several years

(B) the efficiency of solar-power generators in converting energy from the Sun into electric power is not improving as fast as it once did

(C) just as European manufacturers enjoy certain competitive advantages in Europe, so do United States manufacturers in the United States

(D) European governments are currently undertaking initiatives to stimulate the use of solar power within Europe

(E) the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is very limited


Show Spoiler
My Analysis:

Info – 1: United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators--most of which are exported to Europe.

Info – 2: However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. (Assumption – It will reduce the US exports to Europe)

Info – 3: The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

Analysis: Blank space is preceded by since which is the premise indicator, hence we should identify the premise that support the argument conclusion that “United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels”.

Pre-think of answer: There is scope for increase in sales in US market.

Hence I selected answer choice E as it says the current market is limited and with US govt. initiatives it will increase.

But the correct answer choice is C and I am not able to identify the reason for the same.

Please explain what I am missing in my approach.

Hi, can anyone explain why the answer is not (A)?
My reasoning is: (A) explains some United States manufacturers have been substantially increasing their output over the last several years. This means the supply of solar-power generators has been increasing to meet the demand from US, Europe, etc.
Should Europe demand decreases, this gap can be filled with increase of US demand due to successful government plan.

This explains why United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels.

Is there any loop hole in my reasoning? Would appreciate any enlightenment from the experts.

I understand I might need to assume that Europe output demand = US output demand, but isn't (C) also assuming that European manufacturers' competitive advantages in Europe = US manufacturers' competitive advantages in US ?
We know that US manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators and that most of those generators are exported to Europe. This describes the current situation. We are then told that "European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market." Okay, so that would take away much of the European demand for US-made solar generators.

At the same time, "the US government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States." If those initiatives succeed, we would expect US demand for solar generators to increase.

Who is going to supply the generators to meet that US demand? Will it be the US manufacturers? If so, then those US manufacturers "will probably maintain significant production levels." But what if the emerging European manufacturers end up supplying the solar generators to meet US demand (perhaps the generators made by the new, European manufacturers are better and/or cheaper than the ones made in the US)?

If US manufacturers LOSE their market in Europe and do NOT supply the solar generators to meet future US demand, then we would expect that US manufacturers will NOT maintain significant production levels. So we need some evidence that the US manufacturers would be the ones to supply the solar generators to the US (to meet demand that WOULD likely be created if the initiatives are successful). This is exactly what (C) gives us:

Quote:
(C) just as European manufacturers enjoy certain competitive advantages in Europe, so do United States manufacturers in the United States
(C) gives us a reason why US manufacturers would be likely to supply the generators to meet future US demand. (A), on the other hand, only gives us information related to the last several years:

Quote:
(A) some United States manufacturers have been substantially increasing their output over the last several years
That's nice, but what happens once the US manufacturers LOSE their market share in Europe? And who is going to produce the generators to meet the hypothetical future demand in the US? (A) doesn't help us answer those questions.

(C) is the best answer.
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Awesome explanation! Now everything makes sense. Thanks, GMATNinja!
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 28 Jun 2019, 21:27
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aidyn
Awesome explanation! Now everything makes sense. Thanks, GMATNinja!
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Thank you for the kind words, aidyn! Glad we could help.

Quote:
(E) the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is very limited
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DiyaDutta
Can someone help me eliminate E. Is it because even though there is a limited US market for solar power and the demand might help the US manufacturers, but European manufacturers might come and take that market from the US manufacturers in which case just having a limited market and increasing that is not helpful?
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I think you are on the right track here. The current market for solar-powered generators in the US isn't that important. The US government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. So regardless of the current demand, we expect US demand to increase.

Check out this explanation of the OA, if you haven't already.
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 30 Dec 2020, 00:36
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Here is my explanation to this question.

United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators--most of which are exported to Europe. However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

In the argument it is clearly written that EM are emerging and are probably going to capture much of EU market. But just because the EM is ramping up their production or innovation doesn't mean USM are going to loose their share of the EU market. We already know that US is one of the major exporters to EU already and it takes certain conditions favourable to EM and unfavourable to USM to justify the claim that EM are going to take away the EU market from USM.

Thus option C, which states that the conditions that helped the EM can be replicated in the US to help USM. As for option E, even though the market is limited, we dont know the volume of that market. Maybe the limited market in US is big enough to replace all the exports to EU. Need a lot of assumptions to justify this option.

Hence C>E.
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 05 Jun 2021, 08:06
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GMATNinja, VeritasKarishma, how can we eliminate the option B here?

B - the efficiency of solar-power generators in converting energy from the Sun into electric power is not improving as fast as it once did

B says that the efficiency is not improving. Hence we don't need to lower the production levels in order to match the demand. If the efficiency had been increasing then we could have gotten away with the lower production levels to match the demand.
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 26 Aug 2021, 09:43
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It's between C and E.

C explains why American manufacturers want to maintain significant production levels -- they're competitive.

E tells us that the current market for solar generators is low in USA. We know that demand will increase, but will it increase enough to maintain the 'significant production levels'? We can't make that assumption here. Maybe USA previously exported 1,000 solar generators to Europe. Can we say that USA demand has increased enough to account for those 1,000 solar generators? No.

C wins.
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 28 Feb 2022, 21:17
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Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators—most of which are exported to Europe. However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

(E) the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is very limited

Show more

Let me explain why E is wrong.

Let me first start with a changed passage and a changed option E. Let's remove the "If part" of the last sentence of the passage and change option E as follows:

United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators—most of which are exported to Europe. However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

E'. The current market for solar-power generators in the United States doesn't have much potential to grow.

What is the impact of the above option E'?

E' actually weakens the argument rather than strengthen it. If the current market doesn't have much potential to grow, the initiatives to encourage the use of solar power within the US may not succeed. As a result, US manufacturers may not be able to maintain significant production levels.

*************************
Now, let me reintroduce a modified "if" part in the last statement of the passage:

United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators—most of which are exported to Europe. However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in significantly increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

Now, what is the impact of option E' ?

Now, E' has no impact on the argument. Why? Because now, option E' just indicates that the "if" part is very unlikely to happen; E' doesn't impact the "if then" statement. Let me explain.

Let's say there is a statement "If you score 760 on the GMAT, you'll get into HBS."

Can you weaken this statement by saying that you're unlikely to score 760 on the GMAT?

No. Saying so will have no impact on the statement. The statement says that if X happens, Y will happen. What if X doesn't happen? That has no impact on the statement. The statement is weakened only if we say that even if X happens, Y may not happen.

Thus, E' will have no impact on this modified conclusion.

***********

Now, let's talk about the original passage:

United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators—most of which are exported to Europe. However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

E'. The current market for solar-power generators in the United States doesn't have much potential to grow.

In this case, we can argue that E' is a slight weakener since it limits the upside of the increase in demand for solar power generators in the US. We can argue that even if the initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, the increase may not be substantial, and thus, US manufacturers may not be able to maintain significant production levels.

********

Now, let's talk about the original passage and the original option E.

United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators—most of which are exported to Europe. However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

(E) the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is very limited

As we have discussed above, whether the current market for solar-power generators has the potential to grow substantially has an impact on the argument. However, option E says that the current market is very limited. The problem is that whether a market is very limited or not very limited, it may or may not have the potential to grow. Even if a market is not very limited, it may still have significant potential to grow. Thus, option E has no impact on the argument.

Rather, one may also think that this option has a slight negative impact since if the current market is very limited, growing it may also not be able to compensate for the loss of the European market.
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 02 Nov 2023, 18:20
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Understanding the argument -
US manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-powered generators—most of which are exported to Europe.
But now, European manufacturers are emerging and capturing the European market.
The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage the use of solar power within the United States.
The argument predicts that If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels since.....

There is a paradox in the conclusion. If the EU supplier can capture the EU market, they can capture the US market as well, so how will the US supplier probably maintain significant production levels? Where are they supplying? Not to EU much. So, it means they supply to the US market. But how come EU suppliers can't come? That's what option C states.

Option elimination -

(A) some United States manufacturers have been substantially increasing their output over the last several years - This worsens the paradox in the conclusion but doesn't strengthen the conclusion. Distortion

(B) the efficiency of solar-power generators in converting energy from the Sun into electric power is not improving as fast as it once did - It doesn't matter. Out of scope.

(C) just as European manufacturers enjoy certain competitive advantages in Europe, so do United States manufacturers in the United States - ok.

(D) European governments are currently undertaking initiatives to stimulate the use of solar power within Europe - but that doesn't explain for US suppliers as the EU market will mostly be taken by EU suppliers.

(E) the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is very limited - weakener.
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 26 Oct 2024, 10:55
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E is just a mother way of saying ‘ If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for ’. It doesn’t help explaining.
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 01 Nov 2024, 17:21
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Hi Ninja, I disagree. The funding initiatives can be naught if the current demand is already at max capacity.
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aidyn
Awesome explanation! Now everything makes sense. Thanks, GMATNinja!
Thank you for the kind words, aidyn! Glad we could help.

Quote:
(E) the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is very limited
DiyaDutta
Can someone help me eliminate E. Is it because even though there is a limited US market for solar power and the demand might help the US manufacturers, but European manufacturers might come and take that market from the US manufacturers in which case just having a limited market and increasing that is not helpful?
I think you are on the right track here. The current market for solar-powered generators in the US isn't that important. The US government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. So regardless of the current demand, we expect US demand to increase.

Check out this explanation of the OA, if you haven't already.
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 21 Nov 2024, 13:53
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einstein801
Hi Ninja, I disagree. The funding initiatives can be naught if the current demand is already at max capacity.

DiyaDutta
Can someone help me eliminate E. Is it because even though there is a limited US market for solar power and the demand might help the US manufacturers, but European manufacturers might come and take that market from the US manufacturers in which case just having a limited market and increasing that is not helpful?

I think you are on the right track here. The current market for solar-powered generators in the US isn't that important. The US government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. So regardless of the current demand, we expect US demand to increase.

Check out this explanation of the OA, if you haven't already.
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If (E) said something like, "the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is NOT at max capacity" you might have a point.

But as written, choice (E) is irrelevant because the argument is based on a hypothetical situation: "IF these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States...". We don't need to worry about WHETHER the funding initiatives will or will not succeed because, for this argument, we are assuming that they DO succeed.

I hope that helps!
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 18 Feb 2025, 21:46
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can u explain bit more why ans is not d this option seems vermy tempting to me
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I'll try to help you dissecting your reasoning, maybe is useful to you and other students

you say

My Analysis:

Info – 1: United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators--most of which are exported to Europe.

OK

Info – 2: However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. (Assumption – It will reduce the US exports to Europe)

OK

Info – 3: The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

After since we need an answer that strenghten the argument in this case.

Analysis: Blank space is preceded by since which is the premise indicator, hence we should identify the premise that support the argument conclusion that “United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels”.

Pre-think of answer: There is scope for increase in sales in US market.

Not properly true, because if you have a competitive advantage you can still maintain your market share and still have your sales constant respect your competitors

Hence I selected answer choice E as it says the current market is limited and with US govt. initiatives it will increase.

But the correct answer choice is C and I am not able to identify the reason for the same.

Please explain what I am missing in my approach.


Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

(A) some United States manufacturers have been substantially increasing their output over the last several years

what is happened until now is not our concern

(B) the efficiency of solar-power generators in converting energy from the Sun into electric power is not improving as fast as it once did

the efficiency is not our concern

(C) just as European manufacturers enjoy certain competitive advantages in Europe, so do United States manufacturers in the United States

US manufcturers want the european market but now maybe is not the same scenario as before. the US M will maintain significant production levels only and only if they have a consistent market share to sell solar power aka competitive advantage

(D) European governments are currently undertaking initiatives to stimulate the use of solar power within Europe

we already know this from the statement

(E) the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is very limited

we have NOT enough information to say this. where did you see this or infer from the stimulus ?? nowhere. moreover, we are talking about the current market BUT we are concerned about the FUTURE market share


Regards
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United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's sola 25 Feb 2025, 10:45
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HarshZsssh
can u explain bit more why ans is not d this option seems vermy tempting to me
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Check out this post and let us know if you still have questions: https://gmatclub.com/forum/united-state ... l#p1999208.
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