Jamboree Question of the Day - Day 27, Dec 5th 2010

Some observers have concluded that the rise in the price of pepper means that the switch by some growers from pepper to cocoa left those growers no better off than if none of them had switched; this conclusion, however, is unwarranted because it can be inferred to be likely that

(A) those growers could not have foreseen how high the price of pepper would go

(B) the initial cost involved in switching from pepper to cocoa is substantial

(C) supplies of pepper would not be as low as they are if those growers had not switched crops

(D) cocoa crops are as susceptible to being reduced by bad weather as are pepper crops

(E) as more growers turn to growing cocoa, cocoa supplies will increase and the price of cocoa will fall precipitously


Solution (Posted on Dec 6th):

An interesting weaken question that frames a question in an inference style. Choice C, the correct answer, gives the reason why prices for pepper rose and that had the growers who switched to growing cocoa remained growing pepper – pepper supplies would not have gone lower, thus the prices would not have gone high.