@smilde11 of course! Let's diagram the stimulus first:
"No economic system that is centrally planned can efficiently allocate resources, . . . "
ESCP ==> not EAR EAR ==> not ESCP
" . . . and efficient allocation of resources is a necessary condition for achieving a national debt of less than 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."
ND<5%GDP ==> EAR not EAR ==> not ND<5%GDP
"It follows that any nation with a centrally planned economy has a national debt that is at least 5 percent of GDP."
ESCP ==> not ND<5%GDP
Notice that this is a valid transitive argument:
ESCP ==> not EAR ==> not ND<5%GDP
This is a Parallel Reasoning question so we are looking for the answer choice with the exact same pattern of reasoning.
Let's diagram (B):
"All of the rural districts are free of major air pollution problems because such problems occur only where there is a large concentration of automobiles, and there are no such places in the rural districts."
" . . . such problems [major air pollution problems] occur only where there is a large concentration of automobiles . . ."
P: MAPP ==> LCA not LCA ==> not MAPP
" . . . there are no such places [large concentration of automobiles] in the rural districts."
P: RD ==> not LCA LCA ==> not RD
"All of the rural districts are free of major air pollution problems . . . "
C: RD ==> not MAPP MAPP ==> not RD
Notice that this is also a valid transitive argument:
RD ==> not LCA ==> not MAPP
So (B) would be the correct answer.
Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
