Let's carefully analyze the given data and determine the most plausible conclusion regarding Sweden during the Great Depression.
The table outlines the rate of decline in industrial production for five different countries:
- United States: [tex]\(46.8\%\)[/tex]
- Great Britain: [tex]\(16.2\%\)[/tex]
- Germany: [tex]\(41.8\%\)[/tex]
- France: [tex]\(31.3\%\)[/tex]
- Sweden: [tex]\(10.3\%\)[/tex]
We need to deduce a conclusion about Sweden based on these figures. Let's examine the provided options one by one:
1. Sweden did not depend on industrial production.
- Given that Sweden experienced the lowest rate of decline in industrial production (10.3%), it indicates that Sweden's economy was not heavily reliant on industrial production compared to the other listed countries, which had significantly higher declines. This suggests that industrial production was not a major economic driver for Sweden during the Great Depression.
2. Sweden's economy was less stable than most.
- This option would be counterintuitive because a lower rate of decline in industrial production generally indicates higher economic resilience or stability. Thus, it is unlikely that Sweden's economy was less stable based on the given decline rate data.
3. Sweden and Great Britain had similar economies.
- Although the decline rates in industrial production for Sweden (10.3%) and Great Britain (16.2%) are closer compared to other countries, a small difference does not necessarily imply that their economies were similar. The rate of decline in industrial production alone is not sufficient to conclude that the overall economies of these two countries were similar.
4. Sweden had a lower unemployment rate than the United States.
- While Sweden has a lower rate of industrial production decline compared to the United States, unemployment rate data is not provided. Therefore, we cannot conclusively determine the unemployment rates from this information alone without making a significant assumption.
From the analysis of each option, the most reasonable and strongly-supported conclusion based on the given data is:
Sweden did not depend on industrial production.
This is because the significantly lower rate of decline in industrial production (10.3%) suggests that industrial production was not a major component of Sweden's economy during the Great Depression.
