Economist: Owing to global economic forces since 1945, our country’s economy is increasingly a service economy, in which manufacturing employs an ever smaller fraction of the workforce. Hence, we have engaged in less and less international trade.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why does shifting to a service-based economy with fewer manufacturing jobs lead the economist's country to engage in less international trade?
Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key difference between service and manufacturing economies. This difference must either explain why service-based economies are less engaged in international trade or why manufacturing-based economies are more engaged in international trade.
A
International trade agreements have usually covered both trade in manufactured goods and trade in services.
This gives us a similarity between trade in manufactured goods and trade in services rather than a difference. Trade agreements may cover both kinds of trade, but we still don’t know why an increasingly service-based economy leads to a decrease in international trade engagement.
B
Employment in the service sector tends to require as many specialized skills as does employment in manufacturing.
(B) gives a similarity between service employment and manufacturing employment. It doesn’t connect either to international trade or provide an explanation for why increased service employment and decreased manufacturing employment lead to decreased international trade engagement.
C
Because services are usually delivered in person, markets for services tend to be local.
This provides a difference in the market for services as opposed to manufactured goods. Because services are delivered in person, markets for services are local. Thus, if an economy is increasingly service-based, it will engage in less international trade.
D
Many manufacturing jobs have been rendered obsolete by advances in factory automation.
This may explain why the country is becoming more service-based, but it doesn’t explain why a service-based economy is less engaged in international trade. We need an answer that links the shift from manufacturing to services with a drop in international trade.
E
Some services can be procured less expensively from providers in other countries than from providers in the economist’s country.
We need an answer that explains why more services in the economist's country lead to less international trade. (E) only says that some services are cheaper abroad but doesn’t connect this to the economist’s country's level of international trade.
A
takes the behavior of chameleons to be generalizable to lizards as a whole
B
fails to explain how chameleons regulate their vitamin D production by basking in the sun
C
focuses its attention on the study’s author rather than on the study itself
D
fails to demonstrate that the study’s critics have relevant expertise
E
holds the study’s author to a higher standard than it holds the study’s critics
Zack: Those who are in student government became involved precisely because they are outspoken in the first place. Encouraging others to become involved will do nothing to make them more outspoken.