Sentence:  While there may be several such industries to which the model of this paper <WSD>is</WSD> applicable , the authors make particular claim of relevance to the explanation of the course of wages and prices in the steel industry of the United States since World War 2 , . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)