A) Provide an Informal Analysis of the Following Passage; or

question 85

Essay

A) Provide an informal analysis of the following passage; or
B) in analyzing the passage, do the following:
a. Identify the causal hypothesis at issue.
b. Identify what kind of study it is.
c. Describe the control and experimental groups.
d. State the difference in effect (or cause) between control and experimental groups.
e. Identify any problems in either the study or the report of it, including but not necessarily limited to uncontrolled variables.
f. State the conclusion you think is warranted by the report.
In 1960, Dutch researchers from the University of Leiden questioned 852 men and their wives about the men's diets and then monitored the men for the next twenty years. They found that the death rate from heart disease was more than 50 percent lower among men who ate at least thirty grams (one ounce) of fish per day compared with men who ate no fish. Just one or two fish dishes a week, the researchers say, "may be of value in the prevention of coronary heart disease."
-Adapted from Science News

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Definitions:

External Costs

Costs of a transaction or activity that affect parties who did not choose to incur that cost, often not reflected in the market price.

Social Cost

The total cost to society as a whole, including both private costs incurred by firms or individuals and external costs imposed on others.

Free Riders

A person who receives the benefit of a good without paying for it. Because it is often virtually impossible to restrict the consumption of public goods to those who pay, these goods are subject to free-rider problems.

Public Good

A commodity or service that is provided without profit to all members of a society, either by the government or a private individual or organization.