hard · SAT Reading & Writing

When a company automatically enrolled new employees in its retirement-savings plan unless they chose to opt out, participation rose far above the level seen when employees instead had to actively sign up. Surveys showed that most employees under both systems said they wanted to save for retirement, and that few of those automatically enrolled ever left the plan. The economists concluded that the low participation under the sign-up system reflected not employees’ preferences but rather ____

1. a genuine unwillingness among most employees to save for retirement
2. the difficulty many people have in completing a step they must initiate themselves
3. the superior investment returns offered by the automatic-enrollment plan
4. the small number of automatically enrolled employees who later left the plan

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