If the economy is weak, then prices remain

Question

If the economy is weak, then prices remain constant although unemployment rises. But unemployment rises only if investment decreases. Fortunately, investment is not decreasing.

If the statement above are true, then which one of following must be false.

(A) Either the economy is weak or investment is decreasing.
(B) If unemployment rises, then prices remain constant.
(C) The economy is weak only if investment decreases.
(D) Either the economy is weak or prices are remaining constant.
(E) Either unemployment is rising or the economy is not weak.

rkassal · Answer

Yes, this certainly is a tough question. I will try to simplify it as much as I can. Lets see.

WEAK Economy----> CONSTANT Prices + INCREASED Unemployment
One has to be careful in interpreting the next statement-- "Unemployment rises only if investment decreases". What does this mean?
It means: If unemployment has risen then, the investment MUST have decreased.
It DOES NOT mean: Every decrease in investment will cause an increase in unemployment!
So, If INCREASED Unemployment, then DECREASED Investment. It is not the same thing as
DECREASED Investment-----> INCREASED Unemployment. This is where the confusion may have arisen! 
Now we can consider each choice individually.

A "Either the economy is weak or the investment is decreasing"
We know from the stimulus that the 2nd part of the statement is not true,i.e., the investment is not decreasing. Now we should examine the 1st part i.e., "economy is weak". Can economy be weak and investment not decrease? No, it cannot be true! If eco. is weak, Unemployment will rise. If unemployment has risen, then investment MUST have decreased. But investment is not decreasing. Therefore, unemployment has not risen. Hence, economy has not weakened.

B "If unemployment rises then prices remain constant". Is this possible? Yes, it is. There is no established relationship between unemployment and prices in the stimulus; nor is there any established relationship between investment and prices. So they can change independent of each other.

C "The economy is weak only if investment decreases". Could this be true? Yes.
In the stimulus, there is no established relationship between economy and investment. So one can assume this scenario:

DECREASED Investment---> WEAK Economy---> CONSTANT Prices + INCREASED Unemployment.

D "Either the economy is weak or the prices are remaining constant". Is this possible?
The 1st part is not possible because if the economy is weak then, unemployment must rise and if unemployment has risen the, the investment must have decreased. But the stimulus tells us that investment has not decreased; so the economy has not weakened.
How about the 2nd part, i.e., "prices are remaining constant"? There is no established relationship in the stimulus between prices and investment. Therefore, this scenario is possible.

E "Either unemployment is rising or the economy is not weak". Could any of this be true?
Yes. The 1st part cannot be true since the investment has not decreased. The 2nd part can be true.

Therefore, according to me the Ans should be A.

mbaquestionmark · Answer

Given the passage, I would go with C. a) It is given in the question that the investment is not decreasing, and also that this is true :-)

. So investment cannot be decreasing. b) the statement says. if x (weak economy) then y (constant prices) and z (rise in unemployment).. no evidence to prove that if z then y. c) sounds OK compare to others. if the investment decreases, unemployment will raise. note that 'only' is given in cause for rise in unemployment. So if it has to be x then y and z should hold true. But for z to hold true investement should decrease. So the economy is weak only if the investement decreases. d)Both cannot be in a either/or situation. Both of them occur at the same time. e)statement Clearly states that the investement is not decreasing. So there is no chance that the unemployment is raising. and the defence rests !! alternate opinions ??

tejal777 · Answer

OA is  A

OE:
This is a formal logic question, as signaled by “if/then” and “only if,” which means we
need to translate the statements into similar form and go on to make whatever deduction is
available to us.
Sentence 1 says that a weak economy is sufficient to bring about two effects: constant prices
and rising unemployment. Okay for now. Sentence 2’s “only if” signals a necessary
condition, so we can translate the sentence into if/then terms, to wit:
If unemployment rises, then investment decreases.
Now formulate the contrapositive:
If investment is not decreasing, then unemployment is not rising.
And look!—sentence 3 confirms the latter “if” to be the case: Investment, indeed, is not
decreasing. Hence, from sentence 2’s contrapositive, we can deduce that unemployment
indeed is not rising. And that has an impact on sentence 1, whose contrapositive must
read:
If either prices are not constant or unemployment is not rising, then the economy is not weak.
And that leads us to a final deduction. The latter “if” has just been confirmed—it is a fact
that unemployment isn’t rising—hence we must conclude that the economy is not weak.
So of the four factors in the stimulus—economy, prices, unemployment, and investment—
we are sure of the status of three of them. Only prices is up for grabs; they may or may not
remain constant. Now: Keep in mind that the right answer must be false, so the four wrong
choices either could or must be true. And no sooner do we start looking that we see that:
(A) is impossible. Its second clause is flatly contradicted by stimulus sentence 3, and its
first clause is contradicted by our final deduction that “the economy is not weak.” Neither
of (A)’s conditions is possible, so (A) is what we are looking for. For the record:
(B) is possible, because unemployment’s rise has no effect, as far as we’re told, on the
constancy of prices.
(C) must be true. A weak economy means a rise in unemployment, which in turn means
decreased investment. Hence (C) is deducible when sentences 1 and 2 are combined. This
one is selected by students who forget what they’re being asked for.
(D) The first clause in (D) can’t be true—we deduced that the economy is NOT weak.
However, the second clause could be true, as we saw that prices may or may not remain
constant. So overall, (D) contains a statement that could be true and is therefore not what
we seek here.
(E) Again, as in (D), the first clause cannot be true (unemployment is NOT rising), but the
second clause must be true—the economy indeed is not weak, as we deduced above. (E) is
therefore a statement that must be true.

amit2k9 · Answer

its clearly mentioned that investment is not decreasing.
Hence except A others are all possible scenarios.

A

PiyushK · Answer

I am not able to filter out any option.
I have considered three test results for any condition with provided data.
1. True. (1)
2. Undecided (-)
3. False. (0)

Relation given to us :

(IF) IC is weak --> (THEN) Price constant (in spite of) unemployment rises. 
(IF)Investment decrease ---> (THEN) unemployment increase.

Current status = investment is not decreasing

Test:
(A) Either the economy is weak or investment is decreasing.
Either the economy is weak = Can't decide (-) 
Can we say that decrease in unemployment --->> strong economy ?? is reverse causality is allowed as per provided information ?? 
if yes then only my answer would be (No)

Investment is decreasing= No 
(-) || (0) = ??

(B) If unemployment rises, then prices remain constant.
No relation provided between employment and prices = (-)

(C) The economy is weak only if investment decreases.
No relation can be deduced from provided relations = (-)

(D) Either the economy is weak or prices are remaining constant.
As per provided relationship these two are inter-related state thus they can not exist independently.
Yes economy is weak ---> Prices are constant = (1)
Prices are constant ----> Economy is weak = (-)
From provided information I can not deduce current state of any factor.

(E) Either unemployment is rising or the economy is not weak.
Unemployment rising = No because investment is rising. (0)
The economy is weak (-)

Can you share the OE.

OmarFirdaus · Answer

A.If economy is weak -> price constant and unemployment rises ( unempl rises -> only if investment decreases)->investment is decreasing.
hence weak economy and investment decrease occurs together, which makes A false.
 
B. No relation btw unemploymen rise and prices true/false at same time
C. true
D. possible/not possible ( we are only given info that prices remains constant if eonomy is weak, if economy is not weak we dont know what will happen)
E. we dont know what will happen when economy is not weak

bae · Answer

If I were to see this as a math relationship, as a Data sufficiency question.

Premise 1:
If Econ decrease (weaken), P is constant , Unemployment increase (strengthen)
This form the equation that Econ is inverse relationship with Unemployment with constant P
1/E = P X U => Equation 1

Premise 2:
If Unemployment increase (strengthen), Investment decrease (weaken)
This form the equation that Investment is inverse relationship with Unemployment with constant P
1/I = P X U => Equation 2

Premise 3: (Inferred)
Equation 1 & Equation 2:
1/EI = PU => Equation 3.

Conclusion:
From equation 3 we knows that E and I is inverse relation of U with constant P
1/EI = PU

A "Either the economy is weak or the investment is decreasing"
Must be True.
When E, or I decrease -> U increase. 
As stated in conclusion (Equation 3) : E and I is inverse relation of U with constant P

B "If unemployment rises then prices remain constant
Many possibilties of E and I When U Increase, P constant since we do not know what is E or I.
Case 1: E decrease, I increase to a minimal amount (or no changes) that allows U to decrease, with constant P.
Case 2: I decrease, E increase to a minimal amount (or no changes) that allows U to decrease, with constant P.
Case 3: E decrease, I decrease and U decrease, with constant P.
Case 4: E decrease, I decrease and U decrease, with constant P.

C "The economy is weak only if investment decreases". 
E should be determine by U since E has inverse relationship with U (not only if I)

D "Either the economy is weak or the prices are remaining constant".
Many possibilities of I and U

E "Either unemployment is rising or the economy is not weak".
Out of scope - U an E are of inverse relationship.

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

Hello expert, 
Could you explain why A must be wrong and D could be correct? For me, they are the same in logic, so if A must be wrong, the same reason D must be wrong.
Either Or means the 2 things happen mutually exclusively, but passage tells us If the economy is weak (X), then prices remain constant (Y), so this means if X happens, then Y must happen together, so they cannot be mutually exclusive. So I think D also must be wrong.
Pls help, and thx in advance.

VerbalBot · Answer

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If the economy is weak, then prices remain

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