A "vice tax" can suppress demand for a product or service that is not wholly in the public's favor by making it more expensive. The country of Balbonia wished to duplicate Geraldia's success in using a vice tax to reduce the sales of nicotine products, such as cigarettes. When Balbonia introduced the same tax into its market, however, demand for nicotine products remained undiminished, even though the currency-adjusted prices of nicotine in Balbonia rose to levels equivalent to those in Geraldia.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the contrasting impact of the two instances of vice tax described above?

Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

The claim that Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis and Homo erectus, three classifications of hominids extant about 2 million years ago, might represent a single species, is considered tentative, since it is based on a single analysis in the journal Science of a single fossil specimen known as "skull 5." One evolutionary biologist reports several of his colleagues are writing concurring articles. Nonetheless even if that prediction proves correct, these new articles will lend no support to the claim that the three species are in fact one, since _______________.

Inhabitants of the country Orctania suffer from a much lower incidence of cancer than the inhabitants of other countries, for reasons that are generally theorized to be environmental and behavioral--the pollution-free air, stress-free and drug-free living, healthy dietary practices, and active lifestyle. Nevertheless, people from other countries who take up residence in Orctania and attempt to follow the practices of the inhabitants still have a radically higher incidence of cancer than do native Octanians.

Which of the following does NOThelp to explain the higher incidence rate of cancer in non-native Orctanians?

A number of college students were recruited by the psychology department to participate in a paid, unspecified experiment, which turned out to be a menial, monotonous counting exercise. Unbeknownst to the students, half of the participants were paid a meager rate for their participation, while half received a generous rate. After the counting exercise was complete, each student was asked questions on his or her perception of the counting exercise. Surprisingly, the participants who had been paid less reported higher levels of enjoyment in completing the exercise than the higher-paid participants did.

Which of the following hypotheses, if true, best accounts for the findings of the experiment?

Columnist: The chief of police has claimed in a recent press conference that the decline in the number of pickpockets caught on the street indicates that his department that has partly eliminated this petty crime. He might as well argue that because a politician claims to have eliminated bureaucratic waste, there is no need for audits of government agencies. The gentlemen of our police department, in all likelihood, have caught fewer acts of petty crime lately simply because of lax vigilance under pressure from the mayor to lower reported crime rates.

The columnist's statements, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?

The average text-format computer password is highly effective at stopping casual attempts by hackers to break into a critical, secured computer systems but can be hacked within a few minutes by a powerful computer permitted to make repeated remote login attempts. No critical, secured computer system can afford to be defended by a measure that will last as little time as a few minutes. Biometric authentication, on the other hand, has no vulnerability to remote repeated login attempts. Clearly, therefore, for critical, secured computer systems, the average text-format computer password can play no part in effectively stopping hacking attempts.

The argument is most vulnerable to the objection that it fails to

Scientists have genetically modified three pigs so that they are thoroughly florescent both in daylight and in darkness. Pigs have been modified in this fashion before, but the scientists who have created the most recent set observe that their technique has improved the odds of successfully modifying a specific embryo and making the adult pig completely florescent. The presence of the green protein will allow genetically modified cells to be tracked if they were transplanted into a human. This will immediately speed scientists' understanding of genetic research for the purpose of improving human health.

Which of the following would be most useful to determine in evaluating the claim above?

The ability to adapt to high-altitude living appears to have genetic roots, since tribesmen from low altitude regions were found to experience increased difficulties breathing in mountainous regions.

Several meteorologists have calculated that one individual should be struck each week by lightning.

In some cases, two clouds may break apart from the collapsing matter that typically forms a star, then holding each other in orbit around their common center of mass as a binary star.

The company Straffkey guarantees in its contracts with clients that for every ten computer programmers employed by Straffkey on a client project, Straffkey will employ at least one certified project manager. Since many of Straffkey's contracts are with the nation's government, its business increases during economic recessions, when the government spends more, and it has to hire more computer programmers at these times to complete its contracts. Therefore, while many jobs are threatened by economic recessions, the prospects of being hired as a project manager at Straffkey will not be lessened by the state of the economy as a whole.

Which of the following would be most important to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

If the recruitment agency does what it is to be doing, then everyone benefits—the client gets a suitable candidate for the vacant position, the candidate is placed in a satisfying position, and the agency receives a fee commensurate to its work.

The value of gold has crashed; will it ever return to its previous high within the next year? Even at around $60, the value of gold is still up over 100 percent since it matched its last all-time high in the low $30 range just two months ago. One trend is clear, at $60 or at $250, the ecosystem of watching and trading gold continues to expand. Within the next year, without a doubt, more portfolios will include gold, more companies will be created to serve people who consider trading gold, and more people will buy gold. Clearly, it can be concluded that gold will go up.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

Although a direct survey has yet to be produced, clearly the growing ubiquity of tablet computers in our country is leading to diminishing popularity of the original handheld entertainment—that is, books. In decades past, books were the primary source of print media, but one third of adults in our country now own tablet computers on which they can read electronic books, or e-books. And even as far back as eight years ago, before tablets had even hit the market, only about half of adults in our country said in a survey that they were reading a book at the present time.

Each of following would be useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument EXCEPT