The science of economics, which for four decades was dominated by Keynesians, who at first stressed the government’s role in stimulating the economy, but who were ultimately led away from solutions based on government intervention.
(A) economics, which for four decades was
(B) economics that was to be
(C) economics, one which has, for four decades, been
(D) economics is one that for four decades has been
(E) economics, for four decades, is one that was

Tricky

E

D is out due to perfect tense. Simple past is required.

Which seems to wrongly modify economy. Should modify sciences

Agree with you, D is the best. In E, "for four decades" and "is" do not agree, E out
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Thanks Suresh, OA is D

confused between D and E....
cant understand why should we use present tense only
what is wrong if we use past tense...who knows the original fact...whether it is still continuing or not...

my pick is (D).

Can someone explain more about main verb?

A and B are out because they are simply fragments without working verbs, due to the intrusion of relative pronouns ‘which’ and ‘that’ respectively.

As a concept, the use of prefect tense in C and D means to say that the domination by Keynesians still continues, while the explanatory note of that domination is presented in simple past tense, indicating that the domination is a thing of past; The use of present perfect leads to unnecessary shift of tense. This leaves E as the eventual clincher.
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For and since are typical contenders for perfect tense in a sentence when referred with a "time frame".
For eg. I have been living here for last 3 years.
I have been living here since 10'o clock yesterday.
So, D becomes obvious choice above E.
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Got down to C, D and picked C
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Not really!!! The dominance of Keynesian's science of Economics is still prevalent. Just the idea or a rule that dictated the science changed.

Say,
Science evolved in 1970: Government dominated economy.
1975: Something else(Privatization) dominated economy.
2011: Science of economy is still prevalent, but the idea is privatization centric.

Moreover, a continuous nature of the sentence demands the use of Present Perfect Continuous OR Past perfect Continuous- some tense with progressive nature.

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