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Question

Difficulty: Very hardSingle-Sentence Inferences

Read the following statement from an economic history of Eastern European agrarian systems:

"Although late nineteenth-century historians routinely attributed the rapid decline of peasant landholding in the Lower Danube basin exclusively to rising Ottoman taxation, recent econometric reassessments of regional court registries reveal that smallholders who retained access to communal pastureland managed to offset tax increases, whereas those reliant solely on arable plots were forced into tenant contracts even during years of stable tax levies."

Based on the sentence above, which of the following is most strongly supported regarding smallholders in the Lower Danube basin during the late nineteenth century?

  1. A
    Access to communal pastureland completely insulated smallholders from financial strain caused by Ottoman tax levies.
  2. Smallholders lacking access to communal pastureland could be forced into tenancy by factors other than tax increases.Answer
  3. C
    Late nineteenth-century historians misread court registries because they failed to distinguish between arable plots and pastureland.
  4. D
    Recent econometric reassessments demonstrate that Ottoman tax increases had no impact on peasant landholding trends.
  5. E
    Smallholders reliant solely on arable plots were forced into tenant contracts at higher rates during tax increases than during periods of stable levies.

Answer

Smallholders lacking access to communal pastureland could be forced into tenancy by factors other than tax increases.
The sentence states that smallholders reliant solely on arable plots (i.e., those without pastureland access) were forced into tenant contracts even during years when tax levies remained stable. From this specific detail, it strictly follows that rising taxation was not a necessary prerequisite for tenancy, and therefore other factors could compel these smallholders into tenant contracts.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core premise regarding smallholders reliant solely on arable plots.
The target sentence specifies that arable-only smallholders 'were forced into tenant contracts even during years of stable tax levies'.
Establishing what happened during periods of stable tax levies isolates whether tax increases were required to force tenancy.
2
Deduce the logical implication of tenancy occurring under stable tax levies.
If smallholders became tenants during years when taxes did not increase, rising taxation cannot be the sole driver, meaning other conditions or factors were sufficient to cause tenancy.
Single-sentence inference on the GMAT requires strict mathematical/logical deduction without introducing unmentioned external concepts.
3
Evaluate the answer choices against this strict deduction.
The choice stating that smallholders lacking pastureland could be forced into tenancy by factors other than tax increases directly matches the logical deduction.
This choice accurately captures the necessary truth without adding extreme qualifiers or unsupported comparative claims.

Key Concept

Single-Sentence Logical Inference and Strict Deduction
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Topics

Single-Sentence Inferences

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