PrepTest 138, Section 1, Question 16
David Warsh's book describes a great contradiction inherent(451 more words not shown)
The author's attitude towards the(23 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The author says increasing returns “obviously characterized many enterprises” and explains why attempts to include them were long unsuccessful. That treats the Pin Factory as something mainstream theory needed to account for, not as an idea that should have stayed excluded. Predict a favorable attitude toward including it; we don't need the author to endorse every possible claim made with the model.
Working the answers
- A
Hostility would mean opposing the model's inclusion. The criticism concerns its long neglect, so this points in the wrong direction.
- B
The author doesn't leave us unsure whether increasing returns deserve attention. Their real-world importance is treated as clear; the difficulty was modeling them rigorously.
- C
Curiosity suggests interest in finding out whether the idea has merit. The author goes further by treating increasing returns as a real feature of many enterprises that economic theory had failed to incorporate.
- D
Indifference doesn't fit this account of a consequential omission and its eventual correction. The issue matters to the author.
- ECorrect
Receptivity means being open to accepting the idea. That fits the favorable account of bringing an important, previously neglected phenomenon into mainstream economics.
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