Passage

Many nations now place their faith in capitalism and governments choose it as the strategy to create wealth for their people. The spectacular economic growth seen in Brazil, China and India after the liberalisation of their economies is proof of its enormous potential and success. However, the global banking crisis and the economic recession have left many bewildered. The debates tend to focus on free market operations and forces, their efficiency and their ability for self correction. Issues of justice, integrity and honesty are rarely elaborated to highlight the failure of the global banking system. The apologists of the system continue to justify the success of capitalism and argue that the recent crisis was a blip. Their arguments betray an ideological bias with the assumptions that an unregulated market is fair and competent, and that the exercise of private greed will be in the larger public interest. Few recognize the bidirectional relationship between capitalism and greed; that each reinforces the other. Surely, a more honest conceptualisation of the conflicts of interest among the rich and powerful players who have benefited from the system, their biases and ideology is needed; the focus on the wealth creation should also highlight the resultant gross inequity.

With reference to “ideological bias”, the passage implies that

(a) free market is fair but not competent.
(b) free market is not fair but competent.
(c) free market is fair and competent. ✓ UPSC's answer
(d) free market is neither fair nor biased.

Why the answer is (c)

• The passage states that the arguments of capitalism's apologists 'betray an ideological bias'.

• It explicitly identifies the assumptions behind this bias as the belief that 'an unregulated market is fair and competent'.

• The text further adds that these apologists assume 'the exercise of private greed will be in the larger public interest'.

• Therefore, the 'ideological bias' refers to the specific belief that the free market possesses both fairness and competence.

• This directly aligns with option (c), which states the free market is fair and competent.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) free market is fair but not competent.: The passage asserts the bias assumes the market is both fair and competent, not that it is fair but incompetent.
(b) free market is not fair but competent.: The passage asserts the bias assumes the market is both fair and competent, not that it is unfair but competent.
(d) free market is neither fair nor biased.: The passage defines the bias as assuming the market is fair and competent, not that it is neither fair nor biased.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2014, held on 24 August 2014. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.