Commentator: For a free market to function properly, each prospective buyer of an item must be able to contact a lar...

tlrz63 on May 3, 2018

I need help on this question as well!

meisen on May 23, 2018

Me too! I was stuck between B and C

Anita on May 24, 2018

@hallerae I have the answer as B on my side; did it come up wrong for you?

@tlrz63 @meisen B is correct because when we look at the prompt, it tells us that shoppers have to be able to compare prices to what the item is worth. But what if they have no way to know what an item is worth? That's what B points out; that this necessary part of the equation to a free market is missing when it comes to auto repairs.

alva on August 26, 2019

Why is A incorrect

Victoria on August 26, 2019

Hi @alva,

The stimulus tells us that there are two conditions for a free market to function properly. "Each prospective buyer must be able to": (1) "contact a large number of independent prospective sellers" and (2) "compare the prices charged for the item to what the item is worth."

Answer choice A is incorrect because it says that prospective buyers for auto repairs usually do not shop around but rather "take their autos to their regular repair shop out of habit." This does not mean that they cannot shop around, it simply states that they generally choose not to. The first condition for the proper functioning of the free market is that buyers must be able to shop around. Answer choice A does not address whether buyers can shop around or not and is, therefore, incorrect.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Anna20 on July 23, 2020

I understand that this is a Strengthen with Sufficient Premise question. Why is C incorrect here? My thinking was that if not all customers have the prices provided to them, then how can they compare the prices?

shunhe on August 4, 2020

Hi @Anna2020,

Thanks for the question! So let’s take a look at the stimulus first. We’re being told that for a free market to function properly, buyers have to be able to contact sells and compare prices charged to the worth of the item. And then the argument concludes that despite advertised prices and written estimates, the auto repair industry doesn’t constitute a properly functioning free market.

Now we’re asked for something that, if assumed, would let the commentator’s argument’s conclusion follow logically. As you noted, that makes this a strengthen with sufficient premise question.

So now let’s take a look at (C), which says that not all auto repair shops give customers written estimates. You seemed to equate this with customers not having the prices provided to them, but it just says that the prices that customers get aren’t always written down. So they might still get oral price estimates, and they can still compare the prices with those. The argument doesn’t care if the prices are written down or not, as long as they can get the prices somehow. And (C) also kind of restates part of the passage, where we’re told that “many” of the auto repair industry’s individual businesses give written estimates, which means “some, and possibly all, but not necessarily all.” So (C) doesn’t really help us get to the conclusion, since it’s still possible for people to get prices orally, and that’s why (C)’s wrong.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.