GMAT Argument Writing Sample 54

Analysis of Argument Questions for the GMAT

The following is taken from an editorial in a local newspaper.

“Over the past decade, the price per pound of citrus fruit has increased substantially. Eleven years ago, Megamart charged 5 cents apiece for lemons, but today it commonly charges over 30 cents apiece. In only one of these last eleven years was the weather unfavorable for growing citrus crops. Evidently, then, citrus growers have been responsible for the excessive increase in the price of citrus fruit, and strict pricing regulations are needed to prevent them from continuing to inflate prices.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

54. In this editorial the author argues for the imposition of strict pricing regulations in order to prevent citrus growers from continued inflation of prices of citrus fruit. The need for such regulation is supported by the author's contention that citrus growers have been unnecessarily raising prices of citrus fruit in the past. The evidence for this allegation is the fact that the price of lemons has increased from 15 cents per pound to over a dollar per pound during the preceding 11-year period, even though weather conditions have been favorable to citrus production in all but one of those years. This argument is flawed in two important respects.

First and foremost, the author assumes that the only factor that influences the price of citrus fruit is the weather. Other factors—such as monetary inflation, increased distribution and labor costs, or alterations in supply and demand conditions—are ignored as possible sources for the increase. The charge that citrus growers have unnecessarily raised prices can be sustained only if these and other possible factors can be completely ruled out as contributing to the price increases. Since the author fails to address these factors, the recommendation calling for strict pricing regulations can be dismissed out-of-hand as frivolous.

Second, the author assumes that the only way to combat increased prices is through government intervention. In a free-enterprise system many other means of affecting the pricing of goods are available. For example, boycotting a product and thereby influencing supply and demand conditions of the commodity is an effective means of influencing the price of the product. In a free market economy the government should consider regulating prices only when all other means to rectify the problem have been exhausted.

In conclusion, the author's argument is unconvincing. To strengthen the argument the author would have to show that the only factor influencing the price increases is the growers' desire for increased profits.