It is often said that high rates of inflation tend to diminish people’s incentive to save and invest. This view must be incorrec

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问题 It is often said that high rates of inflation tend to diminish people’s incentive to save and invest. This view must be incorrect, however, because people generally saved and invested more of their income in the 1970’s when inflation rates were high than they did in the 1980’s when inflation rates were low.
Of the following, the best criticism of the argument above is that it overlooks the possibility that

选项 A、all people do not respond in the same way to a given economic stimulus
B、certain factors operating in the 1980’s but not in the 1970’s diminished people’s incentive to save and invest
C、the population was larger in the 1980’s than it was in the 1970’s
D、the proponents of the view cited would stand to gain if inflation rates become lower
E、a factor that affects people’s savings behavior in a certain way could affect people’s investment behavior quite differently

答案B

解析 Argument Evaluation
Situation People generally saved and invested more in the 1970’s when inflation was high than in the 1980s when inflation was low, despite the fact that it is commonly believed that high inflation discourages savings and investment.
Reasoning Why does the observation about savings, investment, and inflation rates in the 1970’s and 1980’s not justify the conclusion that high inflation does not generally diminish people’s incentive to save and invest? The argument observes that over the course of two decades there was a positive rather than a negative correlation between inflation on the one hand and savings and investment on the other. It infers from this that high rates of inflation do not tend to diminish people’s incentive to save and invest. Is this inference justified? Note that the claim that this argument is trying to discredit is not that high rates of inflation always diminished people’s incentive to save and invest. Rather, the claim is merely that high rates of inflation tend to do this. The argument overlooks the possibility that during the two decades in question other factors may have caused a positive correlation to briefly appear even if in general the correlation is negative.
A The argument is compatible with the hypothesis that some people respond to inflation by saving and investing more, while others do not.
B Correct. If these other factors, unrelated to the inflation rate, that operated in the 1980’s but not the 1970’s, created an even greater disincentive to savings and investment than high inflation rates provide then those trends do not provide evidence about the general relationship among savings, investment, and inflation.
C The argument appears to concern savings and investment per capita, so total population size should be irrelevant. But increasing population would not explain declining total amounts of savings and investment, either.
D If anything, the possibility that the proponents’ ulterior motives distorted their reasoning would help to support the argument’s conclusion that the proponents’ view is incorrect.
E The argument addresses this possibility by presenting evidence that inflation was positively correlated with both savings and investment during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
The correct answer is B.
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