The nineteenth century marked a revolutionary change in the way wealth was perceived in England. As landed wealth gave way to monied wealth, investments became increasingly speculative.

A popular investment vehicle was the three-percent consol which took its name from the fact that it paid three pounds on a hundred pound investment. The drawback to the consol was that once issued, there was no easy way for the government to buy back the debt. To address the problem, the British government instituted a sinking fund, using tax revenue to buy back the bonds in the open market. The fact that the consol had no fixed maturity date ensured that any change in interest rate was fully reflected in the capital value of the bond. The often wild fluctuation of interest rates ensured the consol’s popularity with speculative traders.

Which of the following best describes the relationship of the first paragraph of the passage to the passage as a whole?

A) It provides a generalization which is later supported in the passage.
B) It provides an antithesis to the author’s main argument.
C) It briefly compares two different investment strategies.
D) It explains an investment vehicle that is later examined in greater detail.
E) It provides a historical framework by which the nature of the nineteenth-century investor can more easily be understood.



In the second paragraph, select the sentence that describes a solution to a problem.