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Verbal·Information and Ideas·Inferences

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Support for the argument that a “consumer revolution,” in which possession of consumer goods among an increasingly wide range of socioeconomic groups surged despite only marginal wage growth, occurred in England between 1600 and 1750 has largely hinged on scholars’ analyses of probate inventories (detailed legal records of deceased persons’ possessions). Reexamining these data, Gregory Clark notes that while inventories from the period appear consistent with the consumer-revolution argument, the proportion of the population whose wills included such documentation decreased considerably between 1600 and 1750, with this documentation increasingly representing more affluent individuals. Clark’s findings thus directly raise the possibility that       

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A

scholars’ previous conclusions based on analysis of probate inventories from 1600 to 1750 overstated broader demographic shifts in the possession of consumer goods.

B

wage increases in England between 1600 and 1750 did not account for the widespread acquisition of consumer goods among less-wealthy individuals.

C

probate inventories from 1600 to 1750 that have been analyzed by scholars exaggerated the number of consumer goods that relatively prosperous individuals possessed.

D

advocates of the consumer-revolution argument may have failed to account for the possibility that the increased acquisition of consumer goods in England between 1600 and 1750 was attributable to an increase in the proportion of wealthy individuals in the period.