The answer is After the response.
Reinorcement and punishment need to be associated within the person's mind after he/she complete a certain behavior/response.
After it's all associated, that person will develop a tendency to conduct the conditioned behavior because he/she associated that behavior with positive outcome.
Improved technology allows to create more goods and to increase the efficiency of providing services (answer d.) and this is they way that it increases standards of living. If there are more goods and services then more people have an access to them.
Answer:
Consumer spending is an important economic indicator because it usually coincides with the overall consumer confidence in a nation's economy. High consumer confidence indicators usually relate to higher levels of consumer spending in the economic market