Question

Which of the following statements about the Information Age is true?

As the world civilizations were sequentially moving through the Stone, Agricultural, Industrial and Informational ages, the average life expectancy has been slowly but steadily increasing.

Improvements in the quality of goods and services in the informational age are not easily captured by the common measures of nations' economic output, such as GDP.

Modern economists predict that somewhere around the year 2100 most countries in the word will attain the status of a developed country, with population growth rates in such countries stabilizing around 6%.

During the Information Age, the Malthusian Hypothesis still dominates thinking on population trends.

The examples of sharp declines in life expectancy and negative population growth rates can now be found only in the history of civilizations, not in the Information Age any more.

Answer 1

Which of the following statements about the Information Age is true?

Correct answer:

Improvements in the quality of goods and services in the informational age are not easily captured by the common measures of nations' economic output, such as GDP.
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Explanation:

GDP fails to measure or account for improvements in quality, it is more based on quantity. A nation that produces more goods and services, at a higher market price, will have a higher GDP. In the process, quality may have been compromised, pollution may have increased, health of people affected etc., but the rise in GDP is the main criteria.

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Other options:

The life expectancy numbers have been varying throughout history, and even today there are wide variations across countries.

It is not possible that all countries will attain the same level of development, due to inherent differences in resources.

The Malthusian theory has not proved correct, as there is an abundance of food production.

Even in today's age, there are sharp variations in life expectancy, and many developed countries have seen falls in population growth rates.