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  3. Imagine the U.S. economic gains of the 1990s, and what comes to mind? Perhaps it was how the stock market ruled: All those initi

Imagine the U.S. economic gains of the 1990s, and what comes to mind? Perhaps it was how the stock market ruled: All those initi

admin2009-04-27  128
问题     Imagine the U.S. economic gains of the 1990s, and what comes to mind? Perhaps it was how the stock market ruled: All those initial public offerings that raked in unprecedented billions for venture capitalists.
    And wasn’t it a great time to be a top manager, with productivity gains boosting the bottom line and igniting executive pay? While it was going on, venture capitalist L. John Doerr called the boom the "largest single legal creation of wealth in history."
    Well, yes and no. With the recession apparently over, it’s now possible to make a more realistic assessment of the entire business cycle of the 1990s: The sluggish recovery that started in March, 1991, the extraordinary boom, the tech bust, and the downturn of 2001. And guess what? A lot of things happened that defy the conventional beliefs about the decade.
    Over this 10-year period, productivity rose at a 2.2% annual rate, roughly half a percentage point faster than in the 1980s—a significant gain. But the real stunner is this: The biggest winners from the faster productivity growth of the 1990s were workers, not investors. In many ways, the most tangible sign of worker gains in the 1990s was the home-buying boom. This revelation helps us understand why consumer spending stayed so strong in the recession and why businesses may still struggle in the months ahead.
    By contrast, the return on the stock market in the 1990s business cycle was actually lower than it was in the business cycle of the 80s. Adjusted for inflation and including dividends, average annual returns on the S＆P-500 index from March, 1991, to the end of 2001 were 11.1%, compared with 12.8% in the previous business cycle.
    Overall, Business Week calculates that U.S. workers received 99% of the gains from faster productivity growth in the 1990s at nonfinancial corporations. Corporate profits did rise sharply, but much of that gain was fueled by lower interest rates rather than increased productivity.
    Why did workers fare so well in the 1990s? The education level of many Americans made an impressive leap in the ’90s, putting them in a better position to qualify for the sorts of jobs that the New Economy created. Low unemployment rates drove up wages. And a torrent of foreign money coming into the U.S. created new jobs and financed productivity-enhancing equipment investment.
    As it turns out, the original perceptions of who benefited most from the productivity gains of the 1990s was flipped on its head. Looking ahead, the economic pie is growing bigger all the time, but it’s still up for grabs who will get the largest piece in the future. And in the end, that’s the real lesson of the 1990s.
选项 A、somewhat superficial,
B、quite trustworthy.
C、rather misleading.
D、very illuminating.
答案C
解析 题干问："作者认为，人们最初的对生产力的增加在20世纪90年代的观点是…"。根据原文第1自然段和第3自然段最后一句，这种观点的结果是"相当错误的"。而选项"肤浅的"，"相当值得信赖的"以及"有启发性的"皆不符合题意。
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