Many economists claim that financial rewards provide the strongest incentive for people to choose one job over anothe...

lsatstudier1 on September 7, 2020

Why not B?

I understand part of the argument is that "economists overestimate the value of high wages", and I thought B would counter this by showing that people actually do care about high wages. Could you please explain why B is wrong? Thanks.

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on November 4, 2020

I would also like to know why it isn't B.

Victoria on November 11, 2020

Hi @lsatstudier1,

Happy to help!

To start, it is important to note that the stimulus talks about different types of financial rewards.

The stimulus concludes that the economists who claim that financial rewards are the strongest incentive for people when choosing a job overestimate the degree to which people are motivated by money in this choice.

Why? Because in many surveys, most people do not name high salary as the most desirable feature of a job.

Notice that the economists talk about general financial rewards, the survey talks about high salary, and the conclusion talks about money in general.

Salary is not the only financial reward which accompanies a job. Maybe the company reimburses for mileage. Maybe the benefits are really good.

This consideration is represented by answer choice (C). This answer choice suggests that, while salary may not be the most desirable feature of a job, people may still be highly motivated by other financial benefits (i.e. money) when selecting a job.

Answer choice (B) fails to account for these other financial benefits because the only difference between the two positions is salary. Of course most people would pick the higher paying job if literally everything else about the position was exactly the same as the lower paying job.

However, in the real world, the financial benefits of a position (i.e. money) are not solely represented by salary. This is represented by answer choice (C) which is our correct answer.

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