Question 15.

The given sentence is missing in the paragraph below. Decide where it best fits among the options 1, 2, 3, or 4 indicated in the paragraph.

Sentence: Productivity gains, once expected to feed through to broader living standards, now primarily serve to enhance returns to wealth.

Paragraph: Economists now argue that inequality is no longer a by-product of growth but a condition of it. _____(1)____ Unlike wages, wealth reflects not just income but also access to assets, favourable institutional conditions - such as low interest rates and public policies like low taxes and housing shortages. _____(2)____In other words, wealth depends on political choices in ways that income currently does not. It's not just the inequality itself that is the issue but the erosion of mechanisms that once constrained it. _____(3)____Wealth and income inequality are linked, but where wages have stagnated and collective bargaining has weakened, capital income - derived from profits, rents and interest - has been boosted by design. _____(4)____