Critical Reasoning

Since a long time, Macaue has supplied itself with enough citrus and meat by keeping demand below average. However, consumption of meat per capita is increasing toward average as Macaue's income per capita is increasing toward average. Producing one Kilogram of meat requires several Kilograms of citrus. Therefore, if income per capita keeps increasing while citrus production cannot grow, Macaue will need to import citrus, meat, or both.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. There will be no sizeable decrease in Macaue's aggregate land allocated to growing citrus.
B. Since the incomes grew, Macaue's population has stayed practically unchanged.
C. In Macaue, consumption of meat per capita is practically equal across all income levels.
D. The price of neither Macaue nor citrus is subject to controls by Macaue's government.
E. Macauen people who increase consumption of meat will not drastically reduce consumption of citrus.

Please comment about why a certain choice is correct / incorrect, especially choice D.

prepgmat09 wrote:Since a long time, Macaue has supplied itself with enough citrus and meat by keeping demand below average. However, consumption of meat per capita is increasing toward average as Macaue's income per capita is increasing toward average. Producing one Kilogram of meat requires several Kilograms of citrus. Therefore, if income per capita keeps increasing while citrus production cannot grow, Macaue will need to import citrus, meat, or both.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. There will be no sizeable decrease in Macaue's aggregate land allocated to growing citrus.
B. Since the incomes grew, Macaue's population has stayed practically unchanged.
C. In Macaue, consumption of meat per capita is practically equal across all income levels.
D. The price of neither Macaue nor citrus is subject to controls by Macaue's government.
E. Macauen people who increase consumption of meat will not drastically reduce consumption of citrus.

Pick E...

gmatmachoman wrote:

prepgmat09 wrote:Since a long time, Macaue has supplied itself with enough citrus and meat by keeping demand below average. However, consumption of meat per capita is increasing toward average as Macaue's income per capita is increasing toward average. Producing one Kilogram of meat requires several Kilograms of citrus. Therefore, if income per capita keeps increasing while citrus production cannot grow, Macaue will need to import citrus, meat, or both.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. There will be no sizeable decrease in Macaue's aggregate land allocated to growing citrus.
B. Since the incomes grew, Macaue's population has stayed practically unchanged.
C. In Macaue, consumption of meat per capita is practically equal across all income levels.
D. The price of neither Macaue nor citrus is subject to controls by Macaue's government.
E. Macauen people who increase consumption of meat will not drastically reduce consumption of citrus.

Pick E...

gmatmachoman, could you please comment on choice D. If government can control the prices, then it can adjust the demand by increasing the prices. Is this not a defender assumption answer?

Hey prepgmat

The answer choice D introduces an out of scope element, quite unnecessary in the reasoning. It may or maynot be true unless it is backed by facts. moreover economically if there is no price control then demand can go either way.

The answer choice E reflects the assumption that people who eat meat also have sufficient capacity to eat citrus in equal quantities