Examkin

Question

Difficulty: Very hardThe Digital Revolution and Economic Globalization

“The transition of the United States economy at the turn of the twenty-first century was characterized not merely by the expansion of the personal computer, but by a deeper structural realignment. As international trade agreements lowered tariff barriers, multinational corporations leveraged new information technologies to coordinate global supply chains, offshoring manufacturing processes to developing nations. Domestically, this dual process of globalization and digitization bifurcated the labor market. While high-skill, tech-adjacent sectors experienced unprecedented growth and wealth accumulation, the traditional manufacturing sectors that had anchored the mid-century middle class saw rapid contraction, accelerating a shift toward service-sector employment that offered fewer institutional protections and lower real wage growth.”

—Adapted from a modern economic history of post-Cold War America

The economic shifts described in the passage most directly contributed to which of the following domestic developments in the United States between 1990 and 2015?

  1. A
    A significant increase in labor union membership and collective bargaining power within the service and technology sectors.
  2. B
    The federal government's return to protectionist trade policies that isolated the domestic economy from international markets.
  3. A growing stagnation of real wages for working-class families alongside increasing economic inequality.Answer
  4. D
    A widespread shift of the population back to rural agricultural areas enabled by remote communication technologies.

Answer

A growing stagnation of real wages for working-class families alongside increasing economic inequality.
The correct answer is correct because the loss of unionized manufacturing jobs to offshoring and automation, combined with the growth of low-wage service sector employment, directly led to wage stagnation for many working-class families and a dramatic increase in income inequality during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the provided historical stimulus to extract the key arguments regarding structural economic changes.
The text argues that trade agreements (globalization) and information technologies (digitization) led to global supply chains, manufacturing decline, labor market bifurcation, and growth in service-sector jobs with low wage growth.
This establishes the causal mechanisms described in the source (offshoring, automation, and labor market division).
2
Recall outside historical knowledge of United States economic and demographic trends from 1990 to 2015.
Historical data confirms that union density declined, the U.S. pursued free-trade agreements like NAFTA, the Sun Belt grew, and the income gap between the wealthiest Americans and the working class widened significantly due to deindustrialization and the rise of a service economy.
This outside knowledge is necessary to assess which option represents a real, historically accurate domestic consequence of the described trends.
3
Evaluate each option by comparing it to the recalled historical developments and the prompt's timeline.
The option describing stagnant real wages and growing economic inequality is the only historically accurate consequence of deindustrialization and the transition to a service/digital economy.
This identifies the correct answer while filtering out options that contain historical misconceptions or demographic errors.

Key Concept

The economic impact of the digital revolution and globalization on the U.S. workforce, characterized by deindustrialization, the decline of union influence, and the rise of income inequality.
Rate this question

Topics

The Digital Revolution and Economic Globalization

More questions from this topic