Which choice most logically completes the text?

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Mongolia, which, according to international indices, has relatively strong democratic institutions and low intranational income inequality, experienced an inflation rate of

4.30%

in 2017, whereas Cameroon, which shows the opposite pattern on such indices, had an inflation rate of only

0.64%

that year. Such comparisons have engendered speculation that by diluting control over the economy, democratic institutions inhibit states ability to counteract inflationary pressures. To test this possibility systematically, Raj Desai et al. examined democratic strength, intranational inequality, and inflation in more than 100 countries, finding that democratic strength, if associated with low inequality, restrains inflationary pressures, suggesting that

Which choice most logically completes the text?

it would be a mistake to treat the relative inflation rates of Mongolia and Cameroon as indicative of an inherent shortcoming in democratic institutions with regard to control over inflation.

speculations about the relative inability of democratic institutions to counteract inflation are based on measures that tend to exaggerate the levels of inflation in strongly democratic countries such as Mongolia.

the factors that contributed to Mongolia's elevated inflation rate relative to Cameroon's have less to do with the countries' political institutions than with the countries' levels of income inequality.

the difference between Mongolia and Cameroon with regard to democratic institution strength may have been greater in 2017 than was represented by international indices.