Final answer:
The S-curve is characterized by a B. Longer maturity period, with three stages: initial exponential growth, deceleration, and leveling off at maturity. It reflects the progression of innovation, business cycles, and population growth.
Step-by-step explanation:
A characteristic of the S-curve is B. Longer maturity period. The S-curve is often associated with the diffusion of innovation, business cycles, and biological population growth. This curve is characterized by three distinct phases. Initially, the growth is exponential as there are few individuals and abundant resources, leading to little resistance to growth. In the second phase, growth starts to decelerate as resources become scarcer and the rate of adoption or growth slows down. Finally, the maturity phase is reached where growth levels off at the carrying capacity of the environment, or a saturation point in the market is achieved.
These stages can be compared to different economic growth stages such as the traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, and age of high mass consumption. Furthermore, the S-curve can be related to technological innovations and how they can shift the production possibility curve, affecting the long-run economic growth represented in the AD/AS diagram.