The correct answer is (E).
(E) Role of a Statement
Step 1: Identify the Question Type
The question presents a claim from the stimulus and asks for "the role played" by that claim in the argument. That makes this a Role of a Statement question.
Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus
The advocate concludes ("[a]s a result") that increasing a good's price will benefit people with the most money, not the people who actually need that good. This contradicts the economists, who argue that price gouging (increasing price in absence of competition) favors those who need that good because they're the ones willing to pay for it. But, the advocate claims that "willingness to pay" and need do not correlate with one another.
Step 3: Make a Prediction
The claim in question (which follows the Keyword [b] ut) is the advocate's rebuttal of the economist's view. That rebuttal is then used to support the advocate's conclusion in the final sentence. The correct answer will address the claim's role as a rebuttal or as support for the advocate's conclusion, or both.
Step 4: Evaluate the Answer Choices
(E) matches the claim's purpose, albeit in a convoluted way. The "reasoning that [the argument] rejects" is the economist's view. That view (price gouging reduces buyers to those who need the good) assumes that the more someone is willing to pay for a good, the more that person needs that good. The claim in question denies that assumption, just as this answer indicates.
(A) is a Distortion. The advocate is disputing a purported effect of an action (price gouging benefiting those who need a certain good), and claiming a different effect will occur (price gouging will benefit those with the most money). The advocate neither disputes nor advocates for any explanations.
(B) is incorrect. The conclusion is the last sentence, not the claim in question.
(C) is a 180. The claim is not part of the reasoning being disputed; it's the evidence against the reasoning being disputed.
(D) is a 180. The advocate does not question the validity of the claim in question. The advocate accepts that claim and uses it to reject the economist's view.
