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Difficulty: MediumNecessary Assumption

Market Analyst: A major supermarket chain tested an automated pricing system that dynamically discounts perishable food items as they approach their expiration dates. During a six-month trial across twenty suburban supermarkets, food waste from expired perishables dropped by 25 percent, while store profit margins increased. Because the automated discounts motivated consumers to purchase goods nearing expiration before they spoiled, the chain plans to deploy the system across all its urban supermarkets to achieve a similar reduction in perishable food waste.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the market analyst's argument depends?

  1. A
    Urban grocery stores do not sell a smaller total volume of perishable goods than suburban grocery stores do.
  2. B
    Implementing dynamic pricing is the single most cost-effective method available to reduce food waste in urban retail environments.
  3. Consumers in urban grocery stores are not significantly less willing to purchase perishable food items nearing expiration at discounted prices than suburban consumers are.Answer
  4. D
    The overall profit margins in the urban stores will increase by at least as much as the suburban stores' profit margins did during the pilot program.
  5. E
    Suburban consumers who participated in the pilot program did not reduce their purchases of non-perishable grocery items.

Answer

The argument depends on assuming that consumers in urban grocery stores are not significantly less willing to purchase perishable food items nearing expiration at discounted prices than suburban consumers are.
The conclusion states that implementing dynamic pricing across urban supermarkets will achieve a similar reduction in perishable food waste to that observed in suburban supermarkets. The stated mechanism for this reduction is that price discounts motivated shoppers to buy items nearing expiration. For this causal mechanism to work in urban stores, urban shoppers must be similarly receptive to purchasing discounted near-expiration goods. If urban shoppers are significantly less willing to purchase such items, the discount mechanism will fail to stimulate demand, preventing the reduction in waste. Therefore, the argument strictly requires assuming that urban shoppers are not significantly less willing to buy these items.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the conclusion and the supporting premises in the stimulus.
Premise: Automated discounting reduced perishable food waste by 25 percent in suburban stores because discounts incentivized purchases before expiration. Conclusion: Deploying the system in urban stores will achieve a similar reduction in perishable food waste.
Clarifying the premise-to-conclusion transition highlights the underlying assumption needed to generalize findings from suburban to urban stores.
2
Identify the logical leap between the experimental group and the target rollout group.
The author assumes that the behavioral incentive (price discounts motivating the purchase of near-expiration food) will function with comparable efficacy in urban stores.
An unstated connection must exist to guarantee that urban shoppers will respond to the discounts similarly to suburban shoppers.
3
Apply the Negation Test to confirm necessity.
Negating the statement: 'Consumers in urban grocery stores ARE significantly less willing to purchase perishable food items nearing expiration at discounted prices.' If true, urban consumers will not buy the discounted items, preventing the expected reduction in food waste and collapsing the conclusion.
A required assumption must be essential such that its logical negation destroys the argument's conclusion.

Key Concept

Necessary Assumption (Extrapolating Sample Results and Applying the Negation Test)

Alternative Method

Negation Technique: Transform each candidate answer into its logical opposite. If negating a statement leaves the argument's conclusion viable, that statement is not a necessary assumption. The only statement whose negation makes the conclusion untenable is the required assumption.
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Necessary Assumption

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