When a nation is on the brink of financial crisis, its government does not violate free–market principles if, in orde...

shunhe on April 5, 2020

Hi @annaj,

Thanks for the question! Let’s take a look at what the stimulus tells us. We’re told that governments don’t violate free-market principles by limiting the extent to which foreign investors can withdraw money in times of financial crises, and makes an analogy to restrictions on free speech made in the interest of the public good.

The question then asks us to figure out what the argument is doing, and (E) says that the argument applies an empirical generalization to reach a conclusion about a particular case. However, there is no empirical generalization here—an empirical generalization would rely on evidence or data of some kind (thus “empirical”). In addition, a conclusion about “a particular case” isn’t reached—the question isn’t talking about, for example, what the government actually did during the 2008 financial crisis. Instead, it talks generally about what governments may or may not do, and so (E) is not the right answer.

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