Resolve the Paradox

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Resolve the Paradox

by Pdgmat2010 » Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:08 pm
In the past year, there has been a large drop in the number of new cars sold, due to harsh economic conditions in the marketplace and high taxes. At the same time, the average price paid for a new car has risen dramatically.
Which of the following, if true, best explains the increase in the average price of a new car?
(A) The price of used cars has climbed steadily over the past ten years.
(B) There will be a tax reduction later in the year which is expected to aid moderate and low income families.
(C) The market for expensive car has been unaffected by the current economic conditions.
(D) Economic conditions are expected to get significantly worse before the end of the year.
(E) Low demand for trucks and vans has led to lower production in the factories

Source : 1000 CR


OA C

My reasoning is as below
A. used cars not in scope of d argument. reject
B. tax reduction has no effect on why prices of new cars have risen steadily
D. This does not explain why new cars will continue to be expensive
E.Trucks n vans r out of scope

now, C : if the prices of cars wont be affected by poor financial conditions, then it is the only reasonable explanation for the above argument.
I had to use POE to arrive at C as all others were completely not related to the paradox.

Pls state your reasoning while solving.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by gr9339 » Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:00 am
I agree with C as well. I used POE as also. None of the answers are that strong so I just decided to pick the strongest or the one that is most likely. I've seen some questions like this in Princeton Review problems but not on GMAT Prep tests. usually there is at least two that stand out when dealing with a question type that you have to pick the strongest answer of 5 fairly weak choices. Anyway,

A. states that prices has climbed "steadily" whereas the stimulus states that price has risen "dramatically" - reject
B. doesnt make economic sense if there are harsh econ conditions and high taxes causing a drop in new cars sold, a tax reduction for mid-low income fams wouldnt cause current prices of new cars to rise dramatically. - reject
C. strongest one. doesnt really explain the "dramatic" avg price increases, but stable prices for expensive cars coupled with an increase in prices for mid-low priced cars could cause the avg prices to increase especially if the # of mid-low priced cars sold largely outweighs the # of expensive cars (if you take avg price based on total # of cars/total car sales), but this is stretching it. Kept it just because it held the strongest logic of all 5 - Correct
D. Doesn't make any sense. -reject
E. Stim has to do with cars, not trucks or vans. If it said vehicles in general, maybe this could be considered.

So I chose C because its the only I one I could rationalize to explain the paradox, even though the explanation is still somewhat insufficient.

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by sumanr84 » Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:55 am
I don't see any of the options having a proper justification here.

C says that the price is unaffected for expensive cars and argument says selling of new cars (expensive or not ?? Don't know ) has decreased due to economic conditions. So, unless and until price of new cars(avg price cars) does not increase substantially, overall avg will not rise.

Pricing info is not provided in the argument. All it says is that taxes increased but we have no way to figure out whether this increase in taxes is offset by low selling of new cars.

But, yes, POE gives C.
I am on a break !!

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by paes » Tue Jul 06, 2010 5:51 am
Answer is C, without any doubt.

Suppose

Last year : 1000 cars were sold [ 700 low price , 300 high price ]
This year : 600 cars are sole [ 300 low price, 300 high price ] --> market for high price cars is unaffected.

So obviously the avg price for the new cars will increase for this year.