SBI 2004 PO

In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word without changing the meaning of the passage.

Lately, the media seems to have gone berserk in …..(216).... every thing that pertains to the New Economy. Behind the great bulk of articles on the subject are two …..(217)... assumptions. First, that the New Economy business are likely to push Old Economy industries all the way into oblivion. Second, that ….(218).... about the New Economy is far superior to that of the Old Economy.
Both those emphatic assumptions could be ….(219)... flawed. Physical products---the cornerstone of the Old Economy -- are hardly likely to ….(220)... out in importance even in the age of the Internet. After, all, the consumption of physical goods is hardly going down.
In everything - from steel to automobiles - ….(221).... is going up. But above and beyond all all this, the New Economy also needs Old Economy products to survive. You can sell goods on the Internet, after all, only if …..(222).... is producing those goods. Beside which, people still want all those Old Economy goods.
As far as the second point is concerned, the one big weakness about the New Economy is that it is ….(223).... more volatile that the Old Economy. The rate of evolution of products -- the cru of the Old Economy - will ….(224)... always be slower than the rate of the growth and proliferation of new ideas on any given subject.
And hence, the Old economy (based on products) will always be relatively more …..(225)... than the New Economy (based largely on ideas)