Evaluate!!!

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Evaluate!!!

by amysky_0205 » Sat Dec 08, 2012 10:18 pm
Hardin argued that grazing land held in common(that is, open to any user) would always be used less carefully than private grazing land. Each rancher would be tempted to overuse common land because the benefits would accrue to the individuals, while the costs of reduced land quality that results from overuse would be spread among all users. But a study comparing 217 million acres of common grazing land with 433 million acres of private grazing land showed that the common land was in better condition.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the significance, in relation to Hardin's claim, of the study described above?

(A): Did any of the ranchers whose land was studied use both common and private land?

(B): Did the ranchers whose land was studied tend to prefer using common land over using private land for grazing?

(C): Was the private land that was studied of comparable quality to the common land before either was used for grazing?

(D): Were the users of the common land that was studied at least as prosperous as the users of the private land?

(E): Were there any owners of herds who used only common land, and no private land, for grazing?

OA: C

Can someone explain all the options?

thank u!
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by amysky_0205 » Tue Dec 18, 2012 1:22 am
Hardin Problem!!!
plz help me with this one!

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by Sk1ver » Tue Dec 25, 2012 2:30 am
Ok, let's see what we have here.

A summary of the stem using my own words:

Hardin: Common lands will be used less carefully than private lands.
Why? Because common lands don't belong to ranchers, so why they should care about the land? They will care about their profits, so they will use the land as much as possible, to benefit from it
BUT
A study showed that common land was in better conditions, than the private.

So what we need to know, to assess the significance of this study? Is it a proper study?

A) Did any of the ranchers whose land was studied use both common and private land? - Helpless... If I know that ranchers used both common and private lands, how this info help me to comment on the significance of the study over Hardin's thoughts?
B) Did the ranchers whose land was studied tend to prefer using common land over using private land for grazing? - So what? I don't care about rancher's preferences, I need to evaluate the issue.. and the issue is not about rancher's preferences

C) ... look below

D) Were the users of the common land that was studied at least as prosperous as the users of the private land? - Again, I don't care about the level of properity of land users... I need to evaluate the significance of the study to the Hardin's thoughts...

E) Were there any owners of herds who used only common land, and no private land, for grazing? - This is almost the same as A and B... so explanation is the same


Now check that ONLY in C the answer is talking about "the land"... and not about users, as in other answer choices...

C): Was the private land that was studied of comparable quality to the common land before either was used for grazing?
Let's answer to this question...
-YES! the private land studied was of comparable quality to the common land before either was used for grazing - so the study is contradicting Hardi's argument... so it is significant, right?
-NO! The private land wasn't of comparable quality... - That's a possible explanation of the reason, the study of lands showed such results... private land was already in poor conditions, prior the study.. so the study itself is not significant to the Hardin's issue...

So the right answer is C.

Please, correct me if my explanation is wrong...this is the way I solve this kind of questions...