569 - Logical Reasoning

Historically, famines have generally been followed by periods of rising wages, because when a labor force is diminished, workers are more valuable in accordance with the law of supply and demand. The Irish potato famine of the 1840s is an exception; it resulted in the death or emigration of half of Ireland's population, but there was no significant rise in the average wages in Ireland in the following decade.
Which one of the following, if true, would LEAST contribute to an explanation of the exception to the generalization?

1. Improved medical care reduced the mortality rate among able-bodied adults in the decade following the famine to below prefamine levels.
2. Eviction policies of the landowners in Ireland were designed to force emigration of the elderly and infirm, who could not work, and to retain a high percentage of able-bodied workers.
3. Advances in technology increased the efficiency of industry and agriculture, and so allowed maintenance of economic output with less demand for labor.
4. The birth rate increased during the decade following the famine, and this compensated for much of the loss of population that was due to the famine.
5. England, which had political control of Ireland, legislated artificially low wages to provide English-owned industry and agriculture in Ireland with cheap labor.