Publicly owned resources will always be abused. Take the example of ca

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Competition Mode Question

Publicly owned resources will always be abused. Take the example of cattle grazing. Where the individual has free access to publicly owned rangeland, he or she always has an incentive to graze more and more cattle regardless of the consequences, because the benefits are captured by the individual grazer while the costs of reduced range quality are borne by all taxpayers. Private landowners are less likely to abuse their own land, however, because they must pay the entire cost.

Which one of the following, if true, would most tend to weaken the author’s argument for the conclusion that publicly owned resources will always be abused?

(A) Many people who privately own resources abuse them in spite of the personal consequences.

(B) Some publicly owned resources are so extensive that it would take widespread abuse before their quality is affected.

(C) Some individuals have no choice but to rely on public resources in the pursuit or their livelihood.

(D) People do not want to lose access to public resources, yet they realize that they will if those resources are ruined through abuse.

(E) Resources are always devalued when everyone has access to them because they are no longer a rare commodity in high demand.

Gmat20201 · Answer

Publicly owned resources will always be abused. Take the example of cattle grazing. Where the individual has free access to publicly owned rangeland, he or she always has an incentive to graze more and more cattle regardless of the consequences, because the benefits are captured by the individual grazer while the costs of reduced range quality are borne by all taxpayers. Private landowners are less likely to abuse their own land, however, because they must pay the entire cost.

Which one of the following, if true, would most tend to weaken the author’s argument for the conclusion that publicly owned resources will always be abused?

Type of question- Weaken

Argument understanding -Publicly owned resources will always be abused because individual user gets the benefit whereas cost of public resource is paid by all tax payer.
 Conclusion -Publicly owned resources will always be abused

Goal-  Weaken the conclusion that Publicly owned resources will always be abused

(A) Many people who privately own resources abuse them in spite of the personal consequences.
- people who privately own resources abuse or not is irrelevant. We are looking for ans which will weaken the conclusion that public owned resources will always be abused. We are not concerned what happens to private resource .So eliminate A

(B) Some publicly owned resources are so extensive that it would take widespread abuse before their quality is affected.
- This statement talks about some resource and outcome of abuse taking time to affect public resource quality. sooner or later when quality of public resource is affected is not relevant. So Eliminate B

(C) Some individuals have no choice but to rely on public resources in the pursuit or their livelihood.
- If some individual have no choice and they rely on public resource for their livelihood, they would not always abuse those resources. But here statement refers to some individuals . What about others, what about majority who would abuse. It weakens the conclusion but not that strongly.So Eliminate C

(D) People do not want to lose access to public resources, yet they realize that they will if those resources are ruined through abuse.
- Correct
People dont want to lose access to public resource, so they will not always abuse it because of fear of losing it. This weakens the conclusion strongly.

(E) Resources are always devalued when everyone has access to them because they are no longer a rare commodity in high demand.

- This is totally out of Scope.

Ans choice D

exc4libur · Answer

ARGUMENT
  pub resources will be abused;
  people have an incentive to abuse these because the incentives are captured by the individual and the costs are borne by the people;
  private resource are less likely to be abused, because owners must pay the entire cost.

WEAKEN

Ans (D) if people don't want to lose pub resources, and they realize that they will if these are ruined through abuse, then, these won't always be abused!

unraveled · Answer

Publicly owned resources will always be abused. Take the example of cattle grazing. Where the individual has free access to publicly owned rangeland, he or she always has an incentive to graze more and more cattle regardless of the consequences, because the benefits are captured by the individual grazer while the costs of reduced range quality are borne by all taxpayers. Private landowners are less likely to abuse their own land, however, because they must pay the entire cost.

Which one of the following, if true, would most tend to weaken the author’s argument for the conclusion that publicly owned resources will always be abused?

(A) Many people who privately own resources abuse them in spite of the personal consequences. - WRONG. Irrelebant. Does not connects with publicly owned resources.

(B) Some publicly owned resources are so extensive that it would take widespread abuse before their quality is affected. - WRONG. 'Some' can be 'most' as well as 'negligible'.

(C) Some individuals have no choice but to rely on public resources in the pursuit or their livelihood. - WRONG. Similar error as in option C.

(D) People do not want to lose access to public resources, yet they realize that they will if those resources are ruined through abuse. - CORRECT. If this is true then it weakens the argument.

(E) Resources are always devalued when everyone has access to them because they are no longer a rare commodity in high demand. - WRONG. It strengthens the argument rather.

IMO Answer D.

chaitralirr · Answer

Publicly owned resources will always be abused. Take the example of cattle grazing. Where the individual has free access to publicly owned rangeland, he or she always has an incentive to graze more and more cattle regardless of the consequences, because the benefits are captured by the individual grazer while the costs of reduced range quality are borne by all taxpayers. Private landowners are less likely to abuse their own land, however, because they must pay the entire cost.

Stimulus: the author concludes that public property is over used or not valued because the maintenance cost is shared by everyone. 
 
Which one of the following, if true, would most tend to weaken the author’s argument for the conclusion that publicly owned resources will always be abused?

(A) Many people who privately own resources abuse them in spite of the personal consequences.  does not weaken the argument

(B) Some publicly owned resources are so extensive that it would take widespread abuse before their quality is affected.  out of scope as the information still means that the public property is abused

(C) Some individuals have no choice but to rely on public resources in the pursuit or their livelihood.  out of scope

(D) People do not want to lose access to public resources, yet they realize that they will if those resources are ruined through abuse.  IMO D people know that if they abuse they will never be able to access again so they will not abuse it. 
 
(E) Resources are always devalued when everyone has access to them because they are no longer a rare commodity in high demand.  Reiterates the stimulus

naul · Answer

I dont like the logic of option D because knowing the consequence of action does not mean that a prevention will be followed. Just look at the reality we live in.

CEdward · Answer

Very true, but we can't resort to outside knowledge on the GMAT. It's a fine line that you have to draw...in some cases new knowledge is OK, other times it's not.

As long as there is reason to doubt the conclusion: "Publicly owned resources WILL always be abused", then that's the correct answer.

D.

Publicly owned resources will always be abused. Take the example of ca

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Publicly owned resources will always be abused. Take the example of ca

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