Happy people work differently. They’re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence (1) _____ firms work, too.

    Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper. (2) _____ , firms in happy places spend more on R&D (research and development). That’s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking (3) _____ for making investments for the future.

    The researchers wanted to know if the (4) _____ and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would (5) _____ the way companies invested. So they compared U.S. cities’ average happiness (6) _____ by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas.

    (7) _____ enough, firms’ investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were (8) _____ . But is it really happiness that’s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities (9) _____ why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various (10) _____ that might make firms more likely to invest—like size, industry, and sales—and for indicators that a place was (11) _____ to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally (12) _____ even after accounting for these things.

    The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors (13) _____ to “less codified decision making process” and the possible presence of “younger and less (14) _____ managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment.” The relationship was (15) _____ stronger in places where happiness was spread more (16) _____. Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.

    (17) _____ this doesn’t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least (18) _____ at that possibility. It’s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help (19) _____ how executives think about the future. “It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and (20) _____ R&D more than the average,” said one researcher.

答案精析：空格处应填入动词，作which引导的定语从句的谓语。而主句“对新公司而言，快乐与投资之间的关联尤为紧密”与介词to的宾语“限制较少的决策过程以及可能会有较为年轻且缺乏经验的管理者任职”之间是因果关系，也就是指宾语所说的内容解释了为什么幸福感和投资的关系在新公司中尤为紧密。attribute to表示原因，因此选择A项。

错项排除：B、C和D项填入原文后，不能体现两者之间的因果关系，故排除。