Economist: Some regulators propose banning dynamic pricing algorithms in the airline industry, arguing that these systems implicitly facilitate collusion. This proposed ban is misguided. It is true that these algorithms sometimes independently converge on supra-competitive prices. However, a ban would also eliminate their capacity to instantaneously adjust to fluctuating fuel costs, a feature that significantly lowers fares for off-peak travelers. Ultimately, eliminating this efficiency would cause average ticket prices to rise, thereby harming the very consumers the regulators wish to protect.
Which of the following most accurately describes the role played in the economist's argument by the statement that these algorithms sometimes independently converge on supra-competitive prices?
- It is a concession of a fact that lends support to the regulatory policy the argument as a whole is designed to refute.Cevap
- BIt is an intermediate conclusion used to directly support the argument's overall claim that the regulators' proposed ban is misguided.
- CIt is an acknowledgment of a drawback to algorithmic pricing that the argument subsequently attempts to demonstrate is practically impossible.
- DIt is evidence introduced to cast doubt on the regulators' underlying claim that dynamic pricing algorithms implicitly facilitate collusion.
- EIt is a premise presented as the sole justification for the regulators' belief that the airline industry requires strict oversight.