Single correct option
The paragraph below is followed by four options, each suggesting a sentence to be inserted at the marked blank (___). Choose the option that completes the paragraph most logically and coherently.
Most early attempts to standardise electrical outlets failed not for technical reasons but for economic ones: once millions of households had already installed a particular design, the cost of switching every home to a superior alternative dwarfed whatever efficiency the new design offered. ___ As a result, several countries remain committed today to outlet standards that engineers widely regard as inferior to ones developed decades later.
Most early attempts to standardise electrical outlets failed not for technical reasons but for economic ones: once millions of households had already installed a particular design, the cost of switching every home to a superior alternative dwarfed whatever efficiency the new design offered. ___ As a result, several countries remain committed today to outlet standards that engineers widely regard as inferior to ones developed decades later.
- A. This is a textbook case of what economists call lock-in, where an early, possibly inferior standard persists simply because switching costs exceed the benefits of change.
- B. Electrical engineers have proposed several improved outlet designs over the past century, each offering marginal safety benefits.
- C. Household electricity consumption has risen steadily worldwide as more appliances have become common.
- D. Many countries adopted electricity before the invention of the modern electrical outlet.
Show answer and solution
Answer: (A) This is a textbook case of what economists call lock-in, where an early, possibly inferior standard persists simply because switching costs exceed the benefits of change.
The paragraph's logic is about a design persisting despite being inferior because switching costs are too high — the classic economic phenomenon of 'lock-in.' Option 1 names and restates this exact mechanism, bridging smoothly into the concluding sentence about countries being 'committed... to outlet standards... regarded as inferior.' The other options introduce tangential facts that do not complete the causal chain the paragraph is building.
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