Appendix (for reading content...etc)
Read the passage 'Unintended Consequences'. On a piece of paper, take notes on the main points of the reading passage.
Reading time: 3 minutes
Unintended Consequences
According to the law of unintended consequences, actions of individuals, groups, or governments have effects, or "consequences" that are unexpected, or "unintended." These unexpected effects, or unintended consequences as they are called in academic literature, are effects that are not planned when an original action is taken, and the person or persons making the decision do not consider that these effects may result from the action taken.
Unintended consequences may turn out to be positive or negative. Unintended consequences that are positive may result, for example, from a decision by a city council to ban cars from Main Street in the city. If, as a result of this decision, there is an unexpected effect that many citizens improve their health because they need to park their cars and walk on a regular basis to get to the businesses that line Main Street, then this is a positive effect. There can, however, also be negative consequences of this decision by the city council to ban cars on Main Street. If, as a result of this decision, citizens decide that it is too much trouble to get to the businesses on Main Street because they cannot take their cars there, then they might decide to go to businesses elsewhere because it is easier to get there. A loss in the number of customers visiting the businesses along Main Street would be a definitely negative effect of the decision by the city council that was absolutely not intended by the city council when the decision was made.
Main idea of the reading passage:
- unintended consequences (effects that are unexpected after a decision)
Example of parking:
- positive consequence = some people get more exercise walking
- negative consequence = some people stop shopping in store on Main Street
Now listen to the passage. On a piece of paper, take notes on the main points of the listening passage.
[audio|src:'\listening\toefl_begin\CD4-37.mp3?20210805'|wait:185]
Do you understand the concept of unintended consequences? That sometimes, when a decision is made, there are consequences of that decision that are unexpected? This, of course, can take place in any field, in any field there decisions are made, but we’re going to look at this concept in terms of Government decision-making.
Let’s take, for example, a situation where a local government needed to increase revenue, so it decided to raise taxes. Makes sense, doesn’t it, that the government should have raised taxes if it wanted to increase revenues?
Well, let's look at what happened in this situation. This government wanted to raise revenue, so it increased taxes, and, for a short while, tax revenue was higher. But then, guess what happened! The citizens of the area who were paying higher taxes had less money to spend, because they were paving higher taxes, you see. Well, because the citizens had less money to spend, they bought fewer goods. And what happened to companies when they were selling fewer goods? Well, they paid less in taxes, for one thing, and they had to lay off employees, for another. And these employees who lost their jobs paid no taxes because they weren’t working, you see. So, look at the overall situation in this area after a few years. The local government had raised taxes to increase revenue; however when the government raised taxes, revenue actually went down rather than up. That’s an unexpected consequence.
Main idea of the listening passage:
- extended example of unintended consequences
Example of increased taxes:
- local government raised taxes to increase revenue
- decision ended up decreasing revenue (citizens had less to spend because of increased taxes)
Now answer the following question:
How does the information in the listening passage add to this ideas presented in the reading passage?
Sample Answer:
|