Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. The convergence model divides nations into three phases of economic progress. 2. At the heart of the convergence theory is the closing of the gap between labour and productivity. 3. Technology leaders typically have arrived earlier at different economic eras. 4. The time period covered by the convergence theory presented herein encompasses, as mentioned, 4012200 years. Select the answer using the code given below.

Passage

The process by which countries close their labour-productivity gap with the technology leader is based on convergence theory. The convergence model divides economic eras into three phases : the breakaway, the catch-up, and the fine-tuning phase. It also divides economic entities into two categories : the technology leaders and the technology followers. The process begins with the development of a new technology, such as scavenging three million years ago (MYA), hunting—one MYA, farming—12 thousand years ago, and industrial technology—a little more than 200 years ago. During the breakaway phase, the per capita income of the technology leaders (e.g., Western Europe and North America in the industrial era) rises, but is unchanged for the technology followers. In the catch-up phase, the followers adopt the new technology and close their per capita income gap with the technology leaders. In the fine-tuning phase, where participants try to extract the remaining benefits from an increasingly exhausted technology, leaders and followers have similar per capita incomes.

QUESTION

CSAT

Medium

Comprehension

Prelims 2026

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

The convergence model divides nations into three phases of economic progress.
At the heart of the convergence theory is the closing of the gap between labour and productivity.
Technology leaders typically have arrived earlier at different economic eras.
The time period covered by the convergence theory presented herein encompasses, as mentioned, 4012200 years.

Select the answer using the code given below.

Select an option to attempt

Explanation

Answer: C — 3 only

Statement 1 — Incorrect. The passage states the convergence model "divides economic eras into three phases" — breakaway, catch-up, and fine-tuning. It does not divide nations into three phases. Nations are instead divided into two categories: technology leaders and technology followers.

Statement 2 — Incorrect. The passage refers to the "labour-productivity gap" — i.e. the gap in labour productivity (output per worker) between followers and the technology leader. Statement 2 misreads this as a gap between labour and productivity, which is not what the passage says.

Statement 3 — Correct. Technology leaders develop and adopt each new technology first (e.g., Western Europe and North America in the industrial era), so they enter each economic era ahead of the followers. The passage supports this through its description of the breakaway phase, where leaders' per capita income rises while followers' is unchanged.

Statement 4 — Incorrect. The passage lists technological milestones at $\sim 3$ MYA, $1$ MYA, $12{,}000$ years ago, and $\sim 200$ years ago. The total time period covered is naturally the span (about $3$ million years), not the arithmetic sum $3{,}000{,}000 + 1{,}000{,}000 + 12{,}000 + 200 = 4{,}012{,}200$ . The passage offers no basis for treating that sum as a meaningful figure.