PrepTest 103, Section 3, Question 24
Over the last 25 years, the average price(44 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(6 more words not shown)
- AThere has been(21 more words not shown)
- BThe number of(13 more words not shown)
- CAllowing for inflation,(11 more words not shown)
- DDuring the last(20 more words not shown)
- ESales to individuals(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the people buying new cars now are richer than the people who bought them before?
The average new-car price has risen relative to average individual income. But the average individual isn't necessarily the person buying a new car. Some lower-income buyers might have switched to used cars, leaving a wealthier group buying new ones. Those buyers could spend the same share of their own incomes even while the overall price-to-income comparison rises.
I might also wonder whether people are choosing cheaper models. But we have to respect the wording: the premise concerns the average price actually paid, so it already reflects the mix of cars purchased. Simply pointing out that some people buy cheaper cars doesn't erase that stated increase.
What we’re looking for
For the weakener, my initial prediction is a change in who the new-car buyers are. We need a reason the broad average doesn't establish what the individuals in the conclusion spend relative to their own incomes. The answer may identify a change different from the richer-buyer possibility, but it has to bear on that gap.
Working the answers
- A
More people living in households with two wage earners tells us about household resources. The conclusion compares an individual's car spending with that individual's income. Sharing a home with another earner doesn't by itself show how much either person pays for a new car or what share of their own income that represents. A changes the income comparison without connecting it to the claimed spending pattern.
- B
An unchanged number of used-car sales doesn't establish what new-car buyers pay or earn. Even though I considered a shift toward used cars as one possible background story, B doesn't supply the relevant difference between the overall averages and the individuals buying new cars. It leaves the conclusion's comparison unresolved.
- C
A decline in inflation-adjusted average income doesn't show that new-car buyers devote a smaller or unchanged share of their incomes to cars. It is compatible with the author's concern about a rising burden. And it still concerns average individuals, rather than establishing the prices and incomes of the particular buyers in the conclusion. It doesn't undermine the inference.
- D
This compares the number of new-car sales with population growth. More sales per person doesn't tell us the price of the cars individuals buy relative to their incomes. It doesn't even establish that the extra purchases are all made by individuals rather than businesses. The sales count doesn't settle the spending-share question.
- ECorrect
The premise covers all new-car sales, while the conclusion concerns purchases by individuals. E says the individual purchases now make up less of that overall market. The overall average is therefore increasingly influenced by purchases outside the group we want to describe.
For example, businesses could buy a growing share of expensive vehicles while individual buyers' car prices and incomes stay unchanged. The average across all sales could rise without those individuals spending a larger income share. That is a possibility E opens, not something it proves happened. The change is toward more nonindividual purchases, not necessarily toward the wealthier individual buyers I initially predicted.
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