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Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.
The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from it
But why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.
Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?
  • a)
    Individuals are more rational than firms.
  • b)
    Firms are rational.
  • c)
    Firms are more rational than individuals.
  • d)
    Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.
  • e)
    Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.
Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer?
Most Upvoted Answer
Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate ans...
Explanation:

Argument in the Passage:
The passage discusses the assumption of rationality in economics and how it can explain features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of goods like beer based on advertising expenditure. It mentions that individuals, who purchase beer, are less rational than firms, which could be expected to be more rational. The passage also talks about the role of advertising in influencing consumer behavior and the idea that consumers use advertising as an indicator of quality control efforts by producers.

Closest Statement:
The statement that would be closest to the arguments in the passage is "Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals." This statement aligns with the passage's mention of firms being expected to be more rational than individuals and the discussion on the role of advertising in influencing market behavior.

Explanation of the Closest Statement:
- The passage implies that firms, as sellers of goods like beer, are more likely to be rational in their decision-making processes compared to individual consumers.
- It suggests that individuals may not always make rational decisions, especially when it comes to factors like advertising influencing their choices.
- The passage highlights the idea that firms, as sellers, may be more systematic and rational in their approach to quality control efforts, which can impact market behavior.
Therefore, the statement "Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals" accurately reflects the arguments presented in the passage regarding the rationality of firms and individuals in the context of market behavior and decision-making processes.
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Community Answer
Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate ans...
This is a direct answer that can be derived from the lines: Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers).
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Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following, as per author, are psychophysical goods?1. Concrete2. Car3. Mobile Phone

Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Why has the author referred to Rutherford in the passage?

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:Humans often appear to react irrationally in the face of disease, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown. Many cling to religion or become superstitious. Others become fatalistic. In times of plague and trauma, we moderns seek to protect ourselves with prayers, charms, sigils and spells as much as any medieval peasant. That a surgical mask is hygienic doesn’t make it any less of a magical symbol.Despite the often blood-soaked history of the use of the term ‘magic’, we must remember that Western history is filled with thinkers who have defended its honour as good natural science - a tried-and-true technology for harnessing interactions between minds and bodies, human and otherwise. And their empirical claims were never tested more than during the centuries of plague. During the previous millennium, the biggest boom in the practice of magic coincided with the Black Death in the mid-14th century. It was the deadliest pandemic in human history, killing as much as half the population of Asia, Africa and Europe - around 200 million souls.The Islamic world...was hit particularly hard by the plague. There, it helped give rise to the ‘occult-scientific revolution’, where various occult sciences - astrology, alchemy, kabbalah, geomancy, dream interpretation - became an important basis for empire more than ever before. The ability to predict the future with divination, then change it with magic, was of obvious political, military and economic interest. Western Europe saw a parallel upsurge of occultism - much of it from Arabic sources - which we now call the Renaissance. The scientific revolution that followed continued the same trend: historians now admit that saints of science such as Johannes Kepler, Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton were likewise raving occultists.Medicine, too, was often classified and practised as an occult science among premodern Muslim, Jewish and Christian physicians. Many considered it alchemy’s sister, both sciences being predicated on the harnessing of cosmic correspondences and natural sympathies to restore elemental equilibrium in the human body - the definition of health. Techniques for life-extension were also central to the alchemical quest. The sweeping physical and sociopolitical imbalances wrought by plague were accordingly answered by an upsurge in medicine, occult and otherwise.Why did, and do, most practitioners of spiritual medicine see it as a perfectly rational response?Leaving aside the possible agency of spirits and other nonhuman entities, one factor is certain: the placebo effect.It refers to the clinical effectiveness of inert substitutes in healing disease, as long as the patient believes them to be a real drug.Under conditions of mass trauma, combined with sincere belief and mental focus, the effectiveness of the placebo often goes up sharply, with patients able tochange their physiology at will.As it happens, creating extreme psychophysical conditions is also a prerequisite to the practice of many occult arts: fasting, prayer, isolation, a vegetarian diet, ritual cleanliness and constant vigil, for weeks, months or even years on end.By any premodern definition, then, the placebo effect is simply a form of magic.Whether you believe in the authority of celestial spirits or of doctors in white lab coats, the effect is similar: astonishing reversals (or inducements) of disease can sometimes be achieved through the power of belief alone - especially when ritually, traumatically harnessed.Q. Which of the following has NOT been mentioned as one of the purposes of magic/occult sciences in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the given question:Corporate governance suffers in companies where the allegiance of independent directors is to the officers of the company rather than to its shareholders. To make the shareholder-board relationship more effective, we need better shareholder surveillance. Shareholders must actively step up as owners, and engage directors on corporate issues. Independent directors in general, and chairmen of all companies in particular, must participate more actively in annual general meetings by owning up to their board decisions and answering shareholder queries.The abuse of corporate power results from incentives within firms that encourage a culture of corruption. For example, former employees within a now-demised corporation described a 'yes man' culture in which only those employees who did everything to please their bosses prospered. 'Corporate culture is what determines how people behave when they are not being watched,' remarked a former managing partner of a consultancy firm. Unethical companies have typified corporate cultures that voiced their commitment to one value system while their processes and incentives reflected an entirely different value system in practice. The responsibility to change this lies with the top management.Clearly, good governance requires a mindset within the corporation which integrates the corporate code of ethics into the day-to-day activities of its managers and workers. As the sociologists opine, companies must move from the 'reactive and compliance mode' of corporate ethics to the 'integrity mode', where the functions of the entire organisation are completely aligned with its value system. To achieve this, we must address the system of incentives that exists within corporations.Corporations must integrate their value systems into their recruitment programmes. They must mandate compliance with their values as a key requirement from each potential employee. They must ensure that every employee owns responsibility for accountability and ethics in every transaction. Corporations must also publicly recognise internal role models for ethical behaviour. They must reinforce exemplary ethical conduct among employees through reward and recognition programmes. Ethical standards and best practices must be applied fairly and uniformly across all levels of the organisation. Any non-compliance must be swiftly dealt with and publicised. Additionally, there should be strong whistle-blower mechanisms within the corporation for exposing unethical or illegal activities.The need of the hour is for all voices in a corporation to unanimously extol the values of decency, honesty and transparency. In other words, every employee has to appreciate that the future of the corporation is safe only if he/she does the right thing in every transaction. Corporates have to create systems, structures and incentives to promote transparency, since transparency brings accountability. In an ideal organisation every employee remembers and follows the adage, 'when in doubt, disclose'.None of this can happen unless corporate leaders believe in the values of the company, and walk the talk. Corporate leaders are powerful role models. Every employee watches them carefully and imitates them. For example, many corporations talk about cutting costs as a way to improve profitability. Such cost consciousness has to come from the top. If leaders want employees to spend carefully, they have to show the way.Which of the following is possibly the most appropriate title for the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the given question:Corporate governance suffers in companies where the allegiance of independent directors is to the officers of the company rather than to its shareholders. To make the shareholder-board relationship more effective, we need better shareholder surveillance. Shareholders must actively step up as owners, and engage directors on corporate issues. Independent directors in general, and chairmen of all companies in particular, must participate more actively in annual general meetings by owning up to their board decisions and answering shareholder queries.The abuse of corporate power results from incentives within firms that encourage a culture of corruption. For example, former employees within a now-demised corporation described a 'yes man' culture in which only those employees who did everything to please their bosses prospered. 'Corporate culture is what determines how people behave when they are not being watched,' remarked a former managing partner of a consultancy firm. Unethical companies have typified corporate cultures that voiced their commitment to one value system while their processes and incentives reflected an entirely different value system in practice. The responsibility to change this lies with the top management.Clearly, good governance requires a mindset within the corporation which integrates the corporate code of ethics into the day-to-day activities of its managers and workers. As the sociologists opine, companies must move from the 'reactive and compliance mode' of corporate ethics to the 'integrity mode', where the functions of the entire organisation are completely aligned with its value system. To achieve this, we must address the system of incentives that exists within corporations.Corporations must integrate their value systems into their recruitment programmes. They must mandate compliance with their values as a key requirement from each potential employee. They must ensure that every employee owns responsibility for accountability and ethics in every transaction. Corporations must also publicly recognise internal role models for ethical behaviour. They must reinforce exemplary ethical conduct among employees through reward and recognition programmes. Ethical standards and best practices must be applied fairly and uniformly across all levels of the organisation. Any non-compliance must be swiftly dealt with and publicised. Additionally, there should be strong whistle-blower mechanisms within the corporation for exposing unethical or illegal activities.The need of the hour is for all voices in a corporation to unanimously extol the values of decency, honesty and transparency. In other words, every employee has to appreciate that the future of the corporation is safe only if he/she does the right thing in every transaction. Corporates have to create systems, structures and incentives to promote transparency, since transparency brings accountability. In an ideal organisation every employee remembers and follows the adage, 'when in doubt, disclose'.None of this can happen unless corporate leaders believe in the values of the company, and walk the talk. Corporate leaders are powerful role models. Every employee watches them carefully and imitates them. For example, many corporations talk about cutting costs as a way to improve profitability. Such cost consciousness has to come from the top. If leaders want employees to spend carefully, they have to show the way.Which of the following can be said about the current state of corporate ethics?

Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer?
Question Description
Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer? for CAT 2024 is part of CAT preparation. The Question and answers have been prepared according to the CAT exam syllabus. Information about Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer? covers all topics & solutions for CAT 2024 Exam. Find important definitions, questions, meanings, examples, exercises and tests below for Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer?.
Solutions for Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer? in English & in Hindi are available as part of our courses for CAT. Download more important topics, notes, lectures and mock test series for CAT Exam by signing up for free.
Here you can find the meaning of Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer? defined & explained in the simplest way possible. Besides giving the explanation of Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer?, a detailed solution for Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer? has been provided alongside types of Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer? theory, EduRev gives you an ample number of questions to practice Directions: Analyze the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions that follow.The assumption of rationality puts an economist in a position to “explain” some features of market behavior, such as the dispersion of prices of psychophysically identical goods such as beer according to the amount spent on advertising them (no doubt, the fact that most beer is bought by individuals rather than as raw material by firms, which could be expected to be more rational than individuals, is part of the explanation.) Clearly something is wrong somewhere with the usual model of a competitive market with perfect information, for the virtually content less advertising cannot be considered as increasing the utility of beer in an obvious way. But if one can keep the assumption of rational actors, one need not get into the intellectual swamp of sentiment nor of preferences that depend on price. If one agrees, for example, that consumers use advertising as an index of the effort a producer will put into protecting its reputation and so as a predictor of quality control efforts, one can combine it with the standard mechanism and derive testable consequences from itBut why, logically speaking, does it not matter that any of us, with a few years' training, could disprove the assumptions? It is for the same reason that the statistical mechanics of gases is not undermined when Rutherford teaches a lot of only moderately bright physicists to use X-ray diffraction to disprove the assumption that molecules are little hard elastic balls. The point is, departures that Rutherford teaches us to find from the mechanism built into statistical mechanics are small and hardly ever systematic at level of gases. Ignorance and error about the quality of beer is also, unlikely to be systematic at the level of the consumers' beer market, though it would become systematic if buyers imposed quality control procedures on sellers in contracts of sale (as corporations very often do in their contracts with suppliers). So when we find beers that advertising can make the ignorance and error systematic at the level of markets, just as lasers with wavelengths resonant with the internal structures and sizes of molecules can make molecular motions in gases systematic. The interesting one is that virtually content-less advertising is nevertheless information to a rational actor.Q. Which of the following statements would be the closest to the arguments in the passage?a)Individuals are more rational than firms.b)Firms are rational.c)Firms are more rational than individuals.d)Firms are, most of the time, more rational than individuals.e)Market behavior of psychophysical goods would be the same as that of physical goods.Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer? tests, examples and also practice CAT tests.
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