LR Question 19 Explanation, by LSATHacks
QUESTION TEXT: Productivity growth in industrialized nations has dropped…
QUESTION TYPE: Weaken
CONCLUSION: A business that has increased its reliance on computer technology probably didn’t improve its productivity growth by doing so.
REASONING: Since computer technology became widespread, productivity growth has dropped substantially. This edict is strongest in industries relying on computer technology.
ANALYSIS: The author is noting a correlation between reliance on computer technology and productivity growth. They’ve concluded that, if a business increased its reliance on computer technology, it probably didn’t improve its productivity growth. However, this is inferring causation from correlation. We just know that the drop was worst for industries relying most on computer technology, but it doesn’t mean that more reliance means less productivity growth for individual businesses. It’s possible that the problem is that many businesses are relying on computer technology but haven’t been investing in it, and it becomes obsolete.
The correct answer will probably tell us that increasing reliance on computer technology does improve productivity growth.
___________
- This provides an explanation for why the computer-reliant industries are having trouble, which doesn’t weaken the argument.
- It doesn’t matter that other industries are also stagnating – we don’t care about those! We want to weaken a conclusion about this one. This answer choice tells us nothing helpful in that respect.
- Again, this answer tells us that the people making computer technology are doing well. Big whoop – it doesn’t change the conclusion at all.
- CORRECT. This is exactly what we wanted. If more reliance leads to better productivity growth, then the author’s conclusion is unfounded.
- The author doesn’t care about the future in their argument, and neither do we. We need to show that right now the businesses increasing reliance on computer technology might be doing better for it.
Recap: The question begins with “Productivity growth in industrialized nations has dropped”. It is a Weaken question. Learn how to master LSAT Weaken questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.
More Resources for Weaken Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Weaken questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers weaken questions.
Thank you for your explanation.
Can you explain why I am definitely wrong to pick A here?
For D, couldn’t you say that businesses that invested the most in computers simply had more/the most money to invest overall — and thus they invested the most in their business, and this led to the growth? Or perhaps you could say that investing more in computer technology increased morale, which improved productivity?
I can see how A refers to industries and not businesses specifically, but I feel like on another question, associating industries with businesses is what would lead to the correct answer. It feels sometimes like the LSAT’s overall logic/method is not applied evenly from question to question.
Thanks from someone just starting the study journey!
Even if A said “businesses” and not “industries”, it still doesn’t weaken the argument. It actually supports it (or provides further context). The argument says that using computer tech probably didn’t help productivity, and A gives a reason why productivity stayed low: these businesses were weighed down by inefficiencies. That helps explain the lack of productivity growth, which aligns with the argument’s conclusion. We want to weaken it.
In contrast, D directly undermines the conclusion by showing that businesses that invested in tech actually saw the greatest productivity gains. You’re right to note that this isn’t a perfect rebuttal or a perfect causal connection (just like the stimulus draws a flawed causal conclusion, D may also have flaws). But our job isn’t to destroy the argument, just to weaken it. So, if in every industry, the businesses with most productivity growth were the ones that invested most heavily in tech, then that gives us a pretty good basis to challenge the claim that reliance on tech doesn’t improve productivity.
Hopefully that helps! Let me know if you have other questions. And welcome to the LSAT world :)
Wow, this is awesome — thanks so much! This definitely clears things up and clears up some confusion I had with other questions :)