An economic historian is studying the long-term development of a fictional country. They find that for the first 50 years of their study period, the country experienced a 'miracle' of exceptionally rapid economic expansion. However, this was followed by a 50-year period of prolonged economic stagnation with almost no growth. If the country's real GDP over this entire 100-year period is plotted on a graph with a ratio scale on the vertical axis, which of the following descriptions best represents the resulting line?

On a graph where the vertical axis uses a ratio scale to show a country's real GDP over time, a straight, upward-sloping line signifies that the economy added the same absolute dollar amount to its GDP each year.

Match each description of a country's long-term economic growth pattern with the corresponding shape of its real GDP line when plotted on a graph with a ratio scale on the vertical axis.

Analyzing Long-Term Growth Patterns