Title: Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind
Abstract: A widely entertained hypothesis holds that, in comparisons among countries, productivity growth rates tend to vary inversely with productivity levels. A century of experience in a group of presently industrialized countries supports this hypothesis and the convergence of productivity levels it implies. The rate of convergence, however, varied from period to period and showed marked strength only during the first quarter-century following World War II. The general process of convergence was also accompanied by dramatic shifts in countries' productivity rankings. The paper extends the simple catch-up hypothesis to rationalize the fluctuating strength of the process and explores the connections between convergence itself and the relative success of early leaders and latecomers.
Publication Year: 1986
Publication Date: 1986-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 3391
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot