Manufacturers and retailers tend to look askance at gray markets, where products are sold at cut-rate prices outside their authorized distribution channels. Manufacturers fear that gray markets will undercut margins and tarnish brand names. Retailers fear that they will siphon away customers and erode prices.

A new study indicates, however, that gray marketing actually benefits manufacturers and retailers in markets that meet two criteria: first, sharp differences exist in consumers’ price sensitivity; second, large numbers of consumers are price-insensitive. In such markets, the low prices of the gray market will attract the most price-sensitive customers. The authonzed channels will then compete only for the remaining customers―those who are insensitive to price but sensitive to service.

When that happens, the structure of competition and the economics of the market shift. The authorized retailers, freed from having to cater to the bargain hunters, can raise their prices and focus on service. If the concentration of price-insensitive shoppers is high enough, the resulting increase in prices will more than offset the loss of sales to the bargain hunters. The margins and profits of the authorized retailers will increase, and manufacturers will, as a result, be able to boost their wholesale prices.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

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I It is said of parasitic forms of life that, although they burden their hosts, they do not kill them, since a parasite cannot survive unless its host does. Mr. Craig’s prize-winning lilies, however, were invaded by dodder, a parasitic plant, and every one of the lilies died soon after. Plainly, therefore, a parasite can be deadly.

The argument above depends on which of the following assumptions?

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Although abundant in many areas of the southern United States, the evening bat has always been uncommon to rare across the northern part of its range―most of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio―their already small populations decreasing even further during the latter part of the twentieth century.

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Daniel: Historically, railroads substantially altered the course of the United States economy, enabling the country to enjoy unprecedented growth in the nineteenth century.

Robert: It’s true that growth required cheap inland transportation, which railroads provided. But with government support similar to the massive land grants that subsidized rapid railroad expansion, canals and roads could have had the same effect.

Which of the following is most likely a point that Robert believes is at issue between Daniel and himself?

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Soil salinization―the process by which soil acquires excess soluble salt, adversely affecting pasture or crop growth―is regarded as Australia’s most serious environmental problem. Cope, whose 1958 investigation is considered the earliest survey of salt-affected areas in Victoria, hypothesized that surplus rainwater mobilized soluble salt stored in the permeable layer of soil, causing it to accumulate above an impermeable layer and then discharge downslope or onto a valley floor. In the late 1970s, however, Jenkin identified saline water underground as the main and immediate (though not ultimate) source of the salt, and hypothesized that the spread of salinity resulted from a rise in that groundwater. He attributed the rise to a decrease in coverage by water-absorbing trees and other vegetation at some ill-defined point in Australia’s post-settlement history.

However, more-recent research suggests there was no rise in post-settlement groundwater levels. Furthermore, soil salinity probably antedated European settlement: early cartographic evidence indicates that some streams were saline when Europeans arrived. Dahlhaus suggests that salt accumulation resulted from marine incursions several million years ago, when parts of Victoria may have been submerged―as well as from transport of salt from the sea by wind and rain. Dahlhaus also notes that various minerals dissolved in groundwater by weathering may have produced salt.

The passage most strongly suggests that the author agrees with which of the following?

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Legislator: Relatively few people in this society object to allowing the potential use of gene replacement techniques to treat disease, but most react negatively to allowing the use of such techniques to enhance people’s performance in competitive sports. A clear distinction should therefore be made between medical treatment and performance enhancement when regulations concerning gene replacement are being formulated, because otherwise__________,

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

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Soil salinization―the process by which soil acquires excess soluble salt, adversely affecting pasture or crop growth―is regarded as Australia’s most serious environmental problem. Cope, whose 1958 investigation is considered the earliest survey of salt-affected areas in Victoria, hypothesized that surplus rainwater mobilized soluble salt stored in the permeable layer of soil, causing it to accumulate above an impermeable layer and then discharge downslope or onto a valley floor. In the late 1970s, however, Jenkin identified saline water underground as the main and immediate (though not ultimate) source of the salt, and hypothesized that the spread of salinity resulted from a rise in that groundwater. He attributed the rise to a decrease in coverage by water-absorbing trees and other vegetation at some ill-defined point in Australia’s post-settlement history.

However, more-recent research suggests there was no rise in post-settlement groundwater levels. Furthermore, soil salinity probably antedated European settlement: early cartographic evidence indicates that some streams were saline when Europeans arrived. Dahlhaus suggests that salt accumulation resulted from marine incursions several million years ago, when parts of Victoria may have been submerged―as well as from transport of salt from the sea by wind and rain. Dahlhaus also notes that various minerals dissolved in groundwater by weathering may have produced salt.

The passage is primarily concerned with discussing

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Doctor: People who have grown up on farms and have been frequently exposed to germs from farm animals are much less likely to develop allergies than are people who were raised in more sanitary environments. This suggests that childhood exposure to certain microorganisms improves the function of the immune system.

In order to assess the strength of the doctor’s argument, it would be most helpful to know which of the following?

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In Moldova in 1979, Russian was claimed as a native language by a large proportion of Jews (66 percent), ethnic Belarusians (62 percent), and bv a significant proportion of ethnic Ukrainians (30 percent).

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Members of many primate species approach an opponent shortly after conflict and initiate behaviors such as embracing, grooming, or huddling―a phenomenon researchers call postconflict reconciliation. Existing research, however, suffers from several shortcomings.

The variability between groups of the same species is rarely addressed; the majority of studies investigate only a small fraction of the pairings that exist in a given group; and almost all reports are restricted to animals in captivity.

In an attempt to address some of these shortcomings, Sommer et al. recentfy conducted a study of postconflict reconciliation in wild Hanuman langurs, a species of colobine monkey. They observed rates of postconflict reconciliation much lower than would be expected based on previous research, and found that over 80 percent of all pairings exhibited no postconflict affinity whatsoever. The rarity of friendly postconflict reunion in wild langurs draws attention to the possibility that conflicts are modulated through avoidance. The option of temporarily avoiding contact with opponents is not easily available to captive primates, and certainly not to the extent present in the wild. Still, studies of postconflict behavior of primates in captivity remain valuable: above all, they demonstrate the flexibility of nonhuman primates in various environments. It is likely, however, that the reported frequency of reconciliation among primates is artificially inflated by the conditions of captivity.

According to the passage, the majority of the pairings observed in Sommer’s study exhibited postconflict affinity under what conditions?

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