Thursday 31 March 2016

01.04.16

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"LIKE elaborately plumed birds…we preen and strut and display our t-values." That was Edward Leamer's
uncharitable description of his profession in 1983. Mr Leamer, an economist at the University of California in
Los Angeles, was frustrated by empirical economists' emphasis on measures of correlation over underlying
questions of cause and effect, such as whether people who spend more years in school go on to earn more in
later life. Hardly anyone, he wrote gloomily, "takes anyone else's data analyses seriously". To make his
point, Mr Leamer showed how different (but apparently reasonable) choices about which variables to include
in an analysis of the effect of capital punishment on murder rates could lead to the conclusion that the death
penalty led to more murders, fewer murders, or had no effect at all.
In the years since, economists have focused much more explicitly on improving the analysis of cause and
effect, giving rise to what Guido Imbens of Harvard University calls "the causal literature". The techniques at
the heart of this literature—in particular, the use of so-called "instrumental variables"—have yielded insights
into everything from the link between abortion and crime to the economic return from education. But these
methods are themselves now coming under attack.
Instrumental variables have become popular in part because they allow economists to deal with one of the
main obstacles to the accurate estimation of causal effects—the impossibility of controlling for every last
influence. Mr Leamer's work on capital punishment demonstrated that the choice of controls matters hugely.
Putting too many variables into a model ends up degrading the results. Worst of all, some relevant variables
may simply not be observable. For example, the time someone stays in school is probably influenced by his
innate scholastic ability, but this is very hard to measure. Leaving such variables out can easily lead
econometricians astray. What is more, the direction of causation is not always clear. Working out whether
deploying more policemen reduces crime, for example, is confused by the fact that more policemen are
allocated to areas with higher crime rates.
Instrumental variables are helpful in all these situations. Often derived from a quirk in the environment or in
public policy, they affect the outcome only through their influence on the input variable while at the same
time being uncorrelated with what is left out . The job of instrumental variables is to ensure that the omission
of factors from an analysis—does not end up producing inaccurate results.
In an influential early example of this sort of study, Joshua Angrist of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) and Alan Krueger of Princeton University used America's education laws to create an instrumental
variable based on years of schooling. These laws mean that children born earlier in the year are older when
they start school than those born later in the year, which means they have received less schooling by the time
they reach the legal leaving-age. Since a child's birth date is unrelated to intrinsic ability, it is a good instrument
for teasing out schooling's true effect on wages. Over time, uses of such instrumental variables have
become a standard part of economists' set of tools. Freakonomics, the 2005 bestseller by Steven Levitt and
Stephen Dubner, provides a popular treatment of many of the techniques. Mr Levitt's analysis of crime during
American election cycles, when police numbers rise for reasons unconnected to crime rates, is a celebrated
example of an instrumental variable.


1. What does Edward Leamer imply by the comment in the first line of the passage?
(a) Birds are hollow creatures who do not care about their fellow birds.
(b) Every economist tries his best to promote his work.
(c) The economists who markets his ideas the most wins in the end like a well plumed bird.
(d) Economists are conceited creatures who display a behaviour similar to plumed birds in the sense
that they put down other economists for promoting themselves.


2. In the schooling example talked about in various parts of the passage , which of the following options
correctly represents 'the input variable', 'the outcome' and 'the left-out variable' in order, from left to
right ?
(a) Scholastic ability, Earnings, Time spent in school.
(b) Earnings, Scholastic ability, Time spent in school.
(c) Time spent in school, Earnings, Scholastic ability.
(d) Time spent in school, Scholastic ability, Earnings.


3. Which of the following would be a suitable title for the passage ?
(a) The role of instrumental variables in "causal literature."
(b) Why the "causal literature" has become popular in economics.
(c) Instrumental variables and their influence on economics.
(d) Instrumental variables- the answer to unobservable factors.


4. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage ?
(a) The techniques of "causal literature" have helped economists to overcome many an obstacle and
have received a unanimous acceptance from all.
(b) Instrumental variables affect the input variable as well as the uncorrelated factors which are left out.
(c) The instrumental variable created by Joshua and Alan makes it reasonably clear that the years of
schooling do not affect the wages earned after schooling.
(d) None of the above.


5. There are two blanks in the following sentence. From the pair of words given, choose the one that fills
the blanks most appropriately. The first word in the pair should fill the first blank.
The present time seems ___________ to bad ideas. In the process of throwing off the shackles of
tradition, we have ended up being quite __________ incipient theories and untested solutions.
(a) hospitable....vulnerable to
(b) hostile....tolerant of
(c) prone....wary of
(d) impervious....exposed to

6. This question presents a sentence, part of which or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you
will find four ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other three
are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the
others. This question tests correctness and effectiveness of expression. In choosing your answer, follow
the requirements of standard written English; that is, pay attention to grammar, choice of words, and
sentence construction. Choose the answer that produces the most effective sentence; this answer should
be clear and exact, without awkwardness, ambiguity, redundancy, or grammatical error.

(((Companies, which use sophisticated machinery and produce high quality products, understand the
needs))) of their customers.

(a) Companies, which use sophisticated machinery and produce high quality products, understand the
needs
(b) Companies that use sophisticated machinery and produce high quality products understands the
needs
(c) Companies using sophisticated machinery and produce high quality products understand the needs
(d) Companies that use sophisticated machinery and produce high quality products understand the
needs


7. There are five sentences given below. Each sentence has a pair of words that are italicised and highlighted.
From the italicised and highlighted words, select the most appropriate words
(A or B) to form correct sentences. The sentences are followed by options that indicate the words,
which may be selected to correctly complete the set of sentences. From the options given, choose the
most appropriate one.
She refused to be phased (A) / fazed (B) by their insulting remarks. The palace was bombarded with
canon (A) / cannon (B) fires by the enemy. According to the law, all citizens must be given equitable
(A) / equable (B) treatment. As soon as the king died, lawlessness reigned (A) / reined (B) over the city.
Such inflammable (A) / inflammatory (B) remarks could lead to a communal discord.
(a) BBAAB (b) ABAAB (c) BBBAB (d) BAAAA



8. There are two blanks in the following sentence. From the pair of words given, choose the one that fills
the blanks most appropriately. The first word in the pair should fill the first blank.
In the next few years, the sophisticated satellites orbiting the Earth will generate enough data to determine
whether the continents are moving at all or not, ______________ the inchoate ____________
among geographers about the truthfulness of the theory of continental drift.
(a) portending....rumors
(b) forestalling....rift
(c) settling....disturbances
(d) resolving....schism


9. Given below is a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options,
choose the sentence that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
The question is whether the mind can function as its own cause, without having first experienced a
determining impulse. Not the activity of the mind but only the nature and the origin of this activity are
subject to question. In order to understand this clearly, we start out from the assumption that the mind
is one of the tools of the animal organism in the struggle for existence. From the beginnings of its
functioning in the simplest animals in which it first appears, the mind encounters two factors: on the one
hand, the body of the organism, which produces the mental functions, a body with certain innate needs
and capacities. Let us call it the "ego." On the other hand, there is its environment: the "non-ego,"
which is the negation of the organism. ______________________________________.
(a) The more it understands its own needs and capacities as well as the differences and relationships
among the objects in the environment, the better it solves them.
(b) It is this awareness of the environment that contains the seed of its own negation, which is particularly
striking.
(c) It is this environment that poses the perplexing problems the mind has to solve.
(d) It is the resolution of the antagonism between ego and environment that triggers adaptation




PASSAGE - II
George Orwell wrote Animal Farm, ". . . to discredit the Soviet system by showing its inhumanity and its
back-sliding from ideals [he] valued . . ." Orwell noted that " there exists in England almost no literature of
disillusionment with the Soviet Union.' Instead, that country is viewed either with ignorant disapproval' or
with uncritical admiration.'" The basic synopsis is this: Old Major, an old boar in Manor Farm, tells the other
animals of his dream of "animalism": " . . . Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our
own. Almost overnight we would become rich and free.'" The other animals take this utopian idea to heart,
and one day actually do revolt and drive the humans out.
Two pigs emerge as leaders: Napoleon and Snowball. They constantly argued, but one day, due to a difference
over plans to build a windmill, Napoleon exiled Snowball. Almost immediately, Napoleon established a
totalitarian government. Soon, the pigs began to get special favours, until finally, they were indistinguishable
from humans to the other animals. Immediately the reader can begin to draw parallels between the book's
characters and the government in 1917-44 Russia. For example, Old Major, who invented the idea of "animalism,"
is seen as representing Karl Marx, the creator of communism. Snowball represents Trotsky, a Russian
leader after the revolution. He was driven out by Napoleon, who represents Stalin, the most powerful
figure in the country. Napoleon then proceeded to remove the freedoms of the animals, and established a
dictatorship, under the public veil of "animalism." Pigs represent the ruling class because of their stereotype:
dirty animals with insatiable appetites. Boxer, the overworked, incredibly strong, dumb horse represents the
common worker in Russia. The two surrounding farms represent two of the countries on the global stage with
Russia at the time, Germany and England.
Orwell begins his book by criticizing the capitalists and ruling elite, who are represented in Animal Farm by
Mr. Jones, the farmer. He is shown as a negligent drunk, who constantly starved his animals. "His character is
already established as self-indulgent and uncaring." Orwell shows us how, "if only animals became aware of
their strength, we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the
rich exploit the proletariat." What was established in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution was not true communism ("animalism"), which Orwell approved of, where the people owned all the factories and land.
Rather, "state communism" was established, where a central government owned them. Orwell thought that
such a political system, "state communism," was open to exploitation by its leaders. Napoleon, after gaining
complete control, did anything he wished - reserved the best for the pigs, and treated the animals cruelly. The
animals could not do anything, unless they again realized their strength in numbers against their own kind.
Unfortunately, they were too stupid to realize this and accepted the "status quo."


10. All of the following would be in line with Orwell's views except?
(a) Literature which expresses disillusionment about the Soviet Union is non-existent.
(b) The Soviet Union is viewed with extreme emotions by the British, who either disapprove of it
without knowledge or totally admire it.
(c) The rich are able to exploit the proletariat mainly because the proletariat is not aware of its own
strength.
(d) The capitalists are generally people who are involved in gratifying their self and have no empathy
towards others.


11. Which of the following tones is not displayed by the author in the passage ?
(a) Objective (b) Narrative (c) Descriptive (d) Critical


12. According to the passage, the following four themes appear in the book ' The Animal Farm'. Select the
option which represents the correct sequence in which they occur in the book.
A. The revolting class acquiring a resemblance to the driven out class.
B. Establishment of a new ideology and exploiting the ideology.
C. The ruling elite exploiting those under them.
D. One leader driving out the other.
(a) ACBD (b) CBDA (c) CDBA (d) BACD



13. The following question consists of two words that have a certain relationship with each other followed
by alternatives. Select the alternative that has the same relationship as depicted in the original pair of
words.
Secular: Mundane
(a) preposterous : prudent
(b) transient : fugacious
(c) recalcitrant : authoritative
(d) patent : closed


14. Read the argument and answer the question that follows.
The Government of India has imposed a heavy duty on petrol to discourage the consumption of the
same. The money accrued through the duty is used to subsidize the price charged for the fertilizers
distributed to poor farmers. So, greater the success achieved in meeting the first objective, the lesser
will be the success achieved in meeting the second objective.
The conclusion drawn above is most suitable in which of the following situations?
(a) A public library has imposed a heavy fine to force the borrowers to return the book promptly, when
due. The money accrued from the fines is used to send the reminders to those borrowers who did not
return books on time.
(b) A zoological garden has imposed an additional visitor's tax over the normal entry fees to improve
facilities at the zoo. The money accrued will be used to improve the facilities for the upkeep of the
animals and to improve the recreational facilities at the zoo.
(c) The Delhi Metro Railway Corporation has imposed a user surcharge to prompt commuters to use
other means of transport. The money collected from the taxes will be used to expand the metro
services in other areas.
(d) The Government has imposed a heavy fine to dissuade people from littering in public places. The
money accrued from fines is used to pay overtime to the employees to clean the litter.



15. Given below is a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options,
choose the sentence that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
While the excellence and superlative quality of our traditional designs are undeniable, design cannot be
said to have a large role to play in our everyday lives today. Being conservative by nature, we do not
seem to care much for the aesthetics of contemporary design — too bleak and spare for our questionable
tastes moulded largely by Bollywood and kitsch, and often bordering on the bizarre. When the rich
build houses, they prefer the excesses of neo-classical architecture to the luxury of 'less is more.'
(a) Hence, our everyday lives are cluttered with cheap imitations and shallow designs.
(b) Thus, traditional designs will always find little or no acceptance in our everyday lives.
(c) For, the grand or what is perceived as grand is regarded as a symbol of power meant to impress and
perhaps even intimidate.
(d) Undoubtedly, popular designs are largely accepted no matter how bizarre they may really be.

16. In the question, four different ways of presenting an idea are given. Choose the one that conforms
most closely to Standard English Usage.
(a) Research is generally a tedious and frustrating process because there are just too much things that
are said about one particular subject and the researcher will be finding the ones relevant to his
research.
(b) The process of research is generally tedious and frustrating because there is just too many things
that are said about one particular subject and the researcher must be finding the ones relevant to his
research.
(c) The process of research is generally tedious and frustrating because there are just too many things
that are said about one particular subject and the researcher must find the ones relevant to his
research.
(d) Generally research is a tedious and frustrating process because there are just too many things that
are said about one particular subject and the researcher must find the ones relevant to his research.


17. There are two blanks in the following sentence. From the pair of words given, choose the one that fills
the blanks most appropriately. The first word in the pair should fill the first blank.
Most of the fifteenth and sixteenth century Mughal gardens were not necessarily intended to look
______________. These gardens were designed to conjure the profound melancholy ensuing from a
sense of the ______________ of natural beauty and human glory.
(a) blitheful....immutability
(b) beautiful....persistence
(c) blissful....simplicity
(d) cheerful....fleetingness



18. Read the argument and answer the question that follows.
Professor: Students in the graduate courses do not write as well as they used to do in the past. Most of
the papers submitted to me by my students have been badly written. These papers also carry lot of
grammatical errors.
Which one of the following is the most serious weakness in the argument made by the professor?
(a) The professor is generalizing about all graduate students on the basis of the submissions of his
students.
(b) There is no proof that the professor is a competent judge of English language.
(c) The argument does not define the criterion for judging a good paper.
(d) The argument does not take into account that the professor is a bad teacher.


19. The question consists of two words that have a certain relationship with each other followed by
alternatives. Select the alternative that has the same relationship as depicted in the original pair of
words.
Formation: Soldiers
(a) club : members
(b) array : numbers
(c) forest : trees
(d) matrix : columns


20. Fill in the blank of the following sentence using one from the idioms provided in the four alternatives.
With a coastline of over 3,000km and a fishing fleet of more than 1,000 vessels, it's ironic that Vietnam
has to import powdered fish from Peru. In a country with huge agricultural potential, this import is like
"_____________".
(a) carrying coals to Newcastle
(b) to take a running jump
(c) raking over the coals
(d) a running battle


21. Given below is a paragraph from which the last sentence that completes the paragraph has been deleted.
From the given options, choose the sentence that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate
way.
How true it is that our children do not belong to us ! We try desperately to give them our thoughts, and
yet they have their own thoughts. As parents, we can house our children's bodies, but not their souls.
When they reach an age of independence, they are finding their way, and they are torn between needing
our help, and needing to be on their own. I remember that feeling clearly. There was such an
excitement about being alive, and I was sure that no one else knew the things that I knew, or felt the
things that I felt. I was learning that parents weren't always right about everything, and some rules
seemed worth breaking. I guess we all go through at least a little rebellion.
_________________________________.
(a) And when this is realized there is also a brief maudlinness accompanied with frequent twinges of
self-abasement in our attitudes, which our parents can easily identify.
(b) And as our children's souls live in the house of tomorrow-a place we cannot visit, not even in our
dreams, even mistakes are part of our journey.
(c) And as parents, we are the bow that sends the living arrows into the future, but it is the Archer (who
guides us) that directs the swiftness and the distance of the arrows, to His directed destination.
(d) And we certainly develop our own thoughts as it is a part of finding ourselves and our capabilities.



Haffner, like Delboeuf, has attempted to explain the act of dreaming by the alteration which an abnormally
introduced condition must have upon the otherwise correct functioning of the intact psychic apparatus; but he
describes this condition in somewhat different terms. He states that the first distinguishing mark of dreams is
the abolition of time and space, i.e., the emancipation of the representation from the individual's position in
the spatial and temporal order. Associated with this is the second fundamental character of dreams, the mistaking
of the hallucinations, imaginations, and fantasy-combinations for objective perceptions. "The sumtotal
of the higher psychic functions, particularly the formation of concepts, judgments, and conclusions on
the one hand, and free self-determination on the other hand, combine with the sensory fantasy-images, and at
all times have these as a substratum". These activities too, therefore, participate in the erratic nature of the
dream-representations. We say they participate, for our faculties of judgment and will are in themselves
unaltered during sleep. As far as their activity is concerned, we are just as shrewd and just as free as in the
waking state.
A man cannot violate the laws of thought; that is, even in a dream he cannot judge things to be identical which
present themselves to him as opposites. He can desire in a dream only that which he regards as a good (sub
ratione boni). But in this application of the laws of thought and will the human intellect is led astray in dreams
by confusing one notion with another. Thus it happens that in dreams we formulate and commit the greatest
of contradictions, while, on the other hand, we display the shrewdest judgment and arrive at the most logical
conclusions, and are able to make the most virtuous and sacred resolutions. "The lack of orientation is the
whole secret of our flights of fantasy in dreams, and the lack of critical reflection and agreement with other
minds is the main source of the reckless extravagances of our judgments, hopes and wishes in dreams"



If the turning-away from the outer world is accepted as the decisive cause of the most conspicuous characteristics
of our dreams, it will be worth our while to consider certain subtle observations of Burdach's, which will
throw some light on the relation of the sleeping psyche to the outer world, and at the same time serve to
prevent our over-estimating the importance of the above deductions. "Sleep," says Burdach, "results only
under the condition that the mind is not excited by sensory stimuli... yet it is not so much a lack of sensory
stimuli that conditions sleep as a lack of interest in them; some sensory impressions are even necessary in so
far as they serve to calm the mind; thus the miller can fall asleep only when he hears the clatter of his mill, and
he who finds it necessary, as a matter of precaution, to burn a light at night, cannot fall asleep in the dark"



22. Which of the following can be inferred to be a cause of dreams ?
(a) The turning-away from the outer world.
(b) Excitation of the sleeping mind by sensory stimuli.
(c) Dissonance experienced with others.
(d) None of the above.


23. The mistaking of the hallucinations in a dream for objective perceptions is associated with which of the
following?
A. Emancipation of representation from the individual's position in the spatial and temporal order.
B. Our faculties of judgment and will being unaltered during sleep.
C. The fact that man can desire in a dream only that which he feels would be good for him.
(a) Only B (b) A and B (c) B and C (d) A and C


24. The author develops the passage by
(a) Showing how Haffner's explanation regarding dreams is different from that of Delboeuf and then
moving on to give more clarity on Haffner's explanation.
(b) Throwing light on Haffner's explanation as regards dreams and then attempting to moderate it.
(c) First discussing the explanations for dreams given by Haffner and then attempting to move on to
Burdach's explanations for more clarity and moderation on the initial discussion.
(d) Discussing Haffner's explanation for dreams and then moving on to Burdach's observations for
moderation on the initial discussion after assuming one of the fundamental assumptions of Burdach
to be true.


25. Fill in the blank of the following sentence using one from the idioms provided in the four alternatives.
Eat carrots for better eyesight, but also know that its excess consumption can turn your skin an orange
hue. Some ____________ are just silly superstitions, but some may just have a nugget of truth.
(a) old heave-hos (b) open sesames
(c) old flames (d) old wives' tales




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