Here, a passage is presented immediately following this question: "The argument in the passage depends on which of the following assumptions?"
"The Soviet blockade of West Berlin following World War II has widely been acclaimed as a failure. The goal of the blockade was to restrict the supply of commodities in West Berlin. If the blockage had been successful, the wholesale price of commodities such as potatoes, sugar, and milk would not have dropped substantially during the blockade."
(A) The supply of commodities available in West Berlin dropped substantially during the blockade.
(B) The price paid for most commodities by the average consumer in West Berlin increased during the blockade.
(C) Shortly after the blockade began, Allied forces began an airlift of commodities that flew over 1,500 flights per day into West Berlin.
(D) The wholesale price of a few commodities skyrocketed in West Berlin during the Soviet blockade.
(E) A substantial drop in the demand for common commodities was not the sole cause of the drop in their wholesale price.Had the goal of Soviet blockage been successful, we would not have noticed a drop in the price of commodities. Yet, the fact is the blockade failed. Thus, the argument implies that the price of commodities have dropped. Logically, I would be inclined to choose an answer that captures this idea. I am hesitant to choose (E) as my answer because a substantial drop in demand for common commodities is irrelevant to the passage. The reason is that the demand curve applies to specific price of common commodities and does not leave room for other possibilities in the passage. Could you please explain how answer (E) would be relevant in this situation?
