Question

According to a widely held economic hypothesis, imposing strict environmental regulations reduces economic growth. This hypothesis is undermined by the fact that the states with the strictest environmental regulations also have the highest economic growth. This fact does not show that environmental regulations promote growth, however, since __________.

Answer 1

those states with the strictest environmental regulations invest the most in education and job training

Step-by-step explanation:

This option introduces a new concept that clearly weakens the cause and effect connection in the passage. The argument does not state that the economic growth is caused by strict environmental regulations. The option A provides a reason why despite the strict regulations, there is still high economic growth and that is because they invest in education and job training more than other states and hence the reason for being the highest economy.