Economist: To the extent that homelessness arises from a lack of available housing, it should not be assumed that th...
DaniiJune 18, 2021
Limit vs Primary
I guess I’m just not understanding the language. What’s the difference between B- “primary cause of homelessness is lack of available housing” which makes you focus on that part of the passage and A- “it limits the application of the argument to that part of the problem”. I feel as though they’re both telling you to zone in on that one part of the passage regardless. How do you know to pick between “limit” and “primary”? Also doesn’t “problem” mean “lack of available house which causes homelessness”? It seems like they’re restating itself in a different way.
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Both answer choices (A) and (B) get you to focus on the same part of the sentence, but we are looking for the answer choice which articulates the role that is played by the phrase "To the extent that homelessness arises from a lack of available housing."
The economist concludes that we should not assume that the profit motive is the reason for homelessness, to the extent that homelessness is caused by a lack of housing.
The economist is clarifying that this conclusion only stands where a lack of available housing contributes to the problem. The remaining factors influencing homelessness (i.e. besides a lack of available housing) may be a result of the profit motive; however, the economist concludes that, this one influencing factor is not a result of the profit motive.
In this way, the economist is limiting the application of their argument (the profit motive is not at fault) to a part (lack of available housing) of the problem (homelessness).
Answer choice (B) is incorrect because the economist does not tell us the extent to which they believe that homelessness arises from a lack of available housing. Therefore, we cannot conclude that the economist believes that a lack of available housing is the primary cause of homelessness; rather, we can only conclude that the economist believes it contributes to the problem of homelessness.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
