Question

Difficulty: MediumSingle-Sentence Inferences

Consider the following excerpt from an economic history passage:

"While early twentieth-century econometricians largely attributed post-war agricultural price stabilization to federal price-floor interventions, modern archival analyses reveal that private grain cartel purchasing agreements had already capped market volatility prior to any legislative enactments."

Based on the passage excerpt, evaluate whether the following statement is True or False:
Modern archival findings imply that federal price-floor interventions were not the earliest factor to limit post-war agricultural price volatility.

Answer: Answer

Answer

True. The statement is fully supported by the sentence's explicit temporal sequence: private cartel agreements capped volatility prior to any legislative enactments (such as federal price floors).
The inference is valid because the target sentence explicitly places private cartel volatility capping prior to any legislative enactments. Since federal price floors were legislative interventions, they logically postdate the initial capping of market volatility by private cartels.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core claims and logical structure of the target sentence.
The sentence contrasts an older belief (attributing price stabilization to federal price floors) with a modern finding (private cartel agreements capped volatility before legislative enactments were passed).
Accurate inference requires identifying the exact temporal and causal relationships established by the text.
2
Evaluate the statement against the identified facts.
The statement asserts that federal price-floor interventions were not the earliest factor to limit volatility. Since private cartels achieved this 'prior to any legislative enactments,' federal laws could not have been the earliest factor.
A valid GMAT inference must be completely provable from the provided text without speculation.

Key Concept

Single-Sentence Inference: Deducing necessary logical conclusions from temporal modifiers and comparative contrast clauses within a single sentence.
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