Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T16:59:51.180Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Globalization, Convergence, and History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Jeffrey G. Williamson
Jeffrey G. Williamson
Affiliation:
Laird Bell Professor of Economics at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There were three epochs of growth experience after the mid-nineteenth century for what is now called the OECD “club”: the late nineteenth century, the middle years between 1914 and 1950, and the late twentieth century. The first and last epochs were ones of overall fast growth, globalization, and convergence. The middle years were ones of overall slow growth, deglobalization, and divergence. Thus history offers an unambiguous positive correlation between globalization and convergence. When the pre-World War I years are examined in detail, the correlation turns out to be causal: globalization played the critical role in contributing to convergence.

Type
Papers Presented at the Fifty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 1996 , pp. 277 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abramovitz, M. “Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind.” this Journal 46, no. 2 (1986): 385–406.Google Scholar
Abramovitz, M., and David, P. A.. “Convergence and Deferred Catch-Up: Productivity Leadership and the Waning of American Exceptionalism.” In Growth and Development: The Economics of the 21st Centuty, edited by Landau, R., Taylor, T., and Wright, G.. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Allen, R. “The Peculiar Productivity History of American Blast Furnaces, 1840–1913.” this Journal 37, no. 3 (1977): 605–33.Google Scholar
Barro, R. J. “Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 106 (05 1991): 407–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barro, R. J., Mankiw, N. G., and Sala-i-Martin, X.. “Capital Mobility in Neoclassical Models of Growth.” American Economic Review 85 (03 1995): 103–15.Google Scholar
Barro, R. J., and Sala-i-Martin, X.. “Convergence across States and Regions.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1 (1991): 107–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borjas, G.Friends or Strangers? The Impact of Immigrants on the U.S. Economy. New York: Basic Books, 1990.Google Scholar
Borjas, G. “The Economics of Immigration.” Journal of Economic Literature 32 (12 1994): 1667–717.Google Scholar
Borjas, G. J., Freeman, R. B., and Katz, L. F.. “On the Labor Market Impacts of Immigration and Trade.” In Immigration and the Work Force: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas, edited by Borjas, G. J. and Freeman, R. B., 213–44. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyer, G. R., Hatton, T. J., and O'Rourke, K. H.. “Emigration and Economic Growth in Ireland, 1850–1914.” In Migration and the International Labor Market, 1850–1939, edited by Hatton, T. J. and Williamson, J. G., 221–39. London: Routledge, 1994.Google Scholar
Broadberry, S. N. “Convergence: What the Historical Record Shows.” In Quantitative Aspects of Postwar European Growth, edited by van Ark, B. and Crafts, N. F. R.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Broadberry, S. N. “Micro-Historical Foundations of the Convergence Debate.” Paper presented at the EHES Summer School, Groningen, The Netherlands, 18–25 06 1995.Google Scholar
Burtless, G. “International Trade and the Rise in Earnings Inequality.” Journal of Economic Literature 33 (06 1995): 800–16.Google Scholar
Chandler, A.The Visible Hand. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1977.Google Scholar
Cipolla, C. M.Literacy and Development in the West. London: Penguin, 1969.Google Scholar
David, P. A.Technical Choice, Innovation and Economic Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Denison, E. F.Why Growth Rates Differ: Postwar Experience in Nine Western Countries. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1967.Google Scholar
DeLong, J. B. “Productivity Growth, Convergence and Welfare: Comment.” American Economic Review 78 (12 1988): 1138–54.Google Scholar
Douglas, P. A.Real Wages in the United States, 1890–1926. New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1930 [reprinted 1966].Google Scholar
Easterlin, R. A. “Why Isn't the Whole World Developed?” this Journal 41, no. 1 (1981): 1–19.Google Scholar
Flam, H., and Flanders, M. J.. Heckscher-Ohlin Trade Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991.Google Scholar
Fogel, R. W. “The Specification Problem in Economic History.” this Journal 27, no. 3 (1967): 283–308.Google Scholar
Gerschenkron, A. “Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective.” In The Progress of Underdeveloped Areas, edited by Hoselitz, B. F.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952.Google Scholar
Greenwood, M. J., and McDowell, J. M.. “The Factor Market Consequences of U.S. Immigration.” Journal of Economic Literature 24 (12 1986): 1738–72.Google Scholar
Greenwood, M. J.. “National Labor Market Consequences of U.S. Immigration.” In Economic Aspects of International Migration, edited by Giersch, H., 155–94. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habakkuk, H. J.American and British Technology in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Hamilton, B., and Whalley, J.. “Efficiency and Distributional Implications of Global Restrictions on Labor Mobility.” Journal of Development Economics 14 (01/02 1984): 61–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammermesh, D. S.Labor Demand. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatton, T. J., and Williamson, J. G.. “The Impact of Immigration on American Labor Markets Prior to the Quotas.” NBER Working Paper No. 5185, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 07 1995.Google Scholar
Hatton, T. J., and Williamson, J. G.. Understanding Mass Migration in the Past. In Progress.Google Scholar
Hayami, Y., and Ruttan, V. W.. Agricultural Development: An International Perspective. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1971.Google Scholar
Hirschman, A. O.The Strategy of Economic Development. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1958.Google Scholar
Hourwich, I.Immigration and Labor: The Economic Aspects of European Immigration to the United States, 2nd Edn. New York: Huebsch, 1922.Google Scholar
James, J. “The Welfare Effects of the Ante Bellum Tariff: A General Equilibrium Analysis.” Explorations in Economic History 15 (07 1978): 231–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, J. “The Use of General Equilibrium Analysis in Economic History.” Explorations in Economic History 21 (07 1984): 231–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karlstrom, U.Economic Growth and Migration During the Industrialization of Sweden: A General Equilibrium Approach. Stockholm: Stockholm School of Economics, 1985.Google Scholar
Kelley, A. C., and Williamson, J. G.. “Writing History Backwards: Meiji Japan Revisited.” this Journal 31, no. 4 (1971): 729–76.Google Scholar
Kelley, A. C., and Williamson, J. G.. “Modelling Economic Development and General Equilibrium Histories.” American Economic Review 63 (05 1973): 450–58.Google Scholar
Kelley, A. C., and Williamson, J. G.. Lessons from Japanese Development: An Analytical Economic History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Kelley, A. C., Williamson, J. G., and Cheetham, R. J.. Dualistic Economic Development: Theory and History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Kravis, I. B. “Trade as a Handmaiden of Growth.” Economic Journal 70 (12 1970): 850–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krugman, P. R., and Venables, A.. “Globalization and the Inequality of Nations.” NBER Working Paper No. 5098, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 04 1995.Google Scholar
Kuznets, S.Modern Economic Growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Lawrence, R., and Slaughter, M.. “International Trade and American Wages in the 1980s: Giant Sucking Sound or Small Hiccup?” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2 (1993): 161–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebergott, S.Manpower and Economic Growth: The American Record Since 1800. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.Google Scholar
Lindert, P. H., and Williamson, J. G.. “Growth, Equality and History.” Explorations in Economic History 22 (10 1985): 341–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maddison, A.Phases of Capitalist Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Maddison, A.Dynamic Forces in Capitalist Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Google Scholar
Maddison, A. “Explaining the Economic Performance of Nations.” In Convergence of Productivity: Cross-National Studies and Historical Evidence, edited by Baumol, W. J., Nelson, R. R., and Wolff, E. N., 20–61. Oxford: Oxford Unviersity Press, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mankiw, N. G., Romer, D., and Weil, D. N.. “A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 107 (05 1992): 407–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myrdal, G.Economic Theory and the Underdeveloped Regions. London: G. Duckworth, 1957.Google Scholar
Obstfeld, M. “International Capital Mobility in the 1990s.” International Finance Discussion Paper No. 472, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC, 06 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ó’, Gráda C.Ireland 1780–1939: A New Economic History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, K. H., Taylor, A. M., and Williamson, J. G.. “Factor Price Convergence in the Late Nineteenth Century.” International Economic Review. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, K. H., and Williamson, J. G.. “Late Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Factor Price Convergence: Were Heckscher and Ohlin Right?” this Journal 54, no. 4 (1994): 892–916.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, K. H., and Williamson, J. G.. “Open Economy Forces and Late Nineteenth Century Swedish Catch-Up: A Quantitative Accounting.” Scandinavian Economic History Review 43, no. 2 (1995): 171–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Rourke, K. H., and Williamson, J. G.. “Education, Globalization and Catch-Up: Scandinavia in the Swedish Mirror.” Scandinavian Economic History Review 43, no. 3 (1995): 287–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Rourke, K. H., and Williamson, J. G.. “Globalization, Education, and the European Periphery 1870–1913.” Paper presented at the Second Conference of the EHES, Venice, Italy, 12–13 01 1996.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, K. H., Williamson, J. G., and Hatton, T. J.. “Mass Migration, Commodity Market Integration and Real Wage Convergence.” In Migration and the International Labor Market, 1850–1939, edited by Hatton, T. J. and Williamson, J. G., 203–20. London: Routledge, 1994.Google Scholar
Passell, P., and Wright, G.. “The Effects of pre-Civil War Territorial Expansion on the Price of Slaves.” Journal of Political Economy 80 (11/12 1972): 188–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pope, C. “The Impact of the Ante Bellum Tariff on Income Distribution.” Explorations in Economic History 9 (summer 1972): 375–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pradosde la Escosura, L. de la Escosura, L., Sánchez, T., and Oliva, J.. “De Te Fabula Narratur? Growth, Structural Change and Convergence in Europe, 19th and 20th Centuries.” Working Paper No. D-93009, Ministerio de Economía y Hacienda, Madrid, 12 1993.Google Scholar
Sandberg, L. G. “The Case of the Impoverished Sophisticate: Human Capital and Swedish Economic Growth before World War I.” this Journal 39, no. 1 (1979): 225–41.Google Scholar
Sandberg, L. G. “Ignorance, Poverty and Economic Backwardness in the Early Stages of European Industrialization.” Journal of European Economic History 11 (winter 1982): 675–97.Google Scholar
Shoven, J. B., and Whalley, J.. Applying General Equilibrium. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Simon, J. L.The Economic Consequences of Immigration. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1989.Google Scholar
Taylor, A. M., and Williamson, J. G.. “Convergence in the Age of Mass Migration.” NBER Working Paper No. 4711, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 04 1994.Google Scholar
Temin, P. “Labor Scarcity and the Problem of American Industrial Efficiency in the 1850s.” this Journal 26, no. 3 (1966): 277–98.Google Scholar
Thomas, M. “General Equilibrium Models and Research in Economic History.” In The Future of Economic History, edited by Field, A., 121–83. Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff, 1987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tortella, G. “Patterns of Economic Retardation and Recovery in South-Western Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.” Economic History Review 47 (02 1994): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trefler, D. “International Factor Price Differences: Leontief Was Right.” Journal of Political Economy 101 (12 1993): 961–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Immigration Commission. Reports, 61st Cong., 3rd sess. Washington, DC: GPO, 1911.Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. “Regional Inequality and the Process of National Development: A Description of the Patterns.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 13 (07 1965), Pt. 2: 1–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G.Late Nineteenth-Century American Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. “Immigrant-Inequality Trade-Offs in the Promised Land: American Growth, Distribution and Immigration Prior to the Quotas.” In The Gateway, edited by Chiswick, B., 251–88. Washington, DC: AEA Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G.Did British Capitalism Breed Inequality? London: Allen and Unwin, 1985.Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G.Coping with City Growth During the British Industrial Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G.Inequality, Poverty and History. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991.Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. “Economic Convergence: Placing Post-Famine Ireland in Comparative Perspective.” Irish Economic and Social History 20 (1994): 1–24.Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. “The Evolution of Global Labor Markets Since 1830: Background Evidence and Hypotheses.” Explorations in Economic History 32 (04 1995): 141–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G., and Lindert, P. H.. American Inequality: A Macroeconomic History. New York: Academic Press, 1980.Google Scholar
Wood, A.North-South Trade, Employment, and Inequality: Changing Fortunes in a Skill-Driven World. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Wright, G.Old South, New South. New York: Basic Books, 1986.Google Scholar
Wright, G. “The Origins of American Industrial Success, 1879–1940,” American Economic Review 80 (09 1990): 651–68.Google Scholar
Zevin, R. B. “Are World Financial Markets More Open? If So Why and With What Effects?” In Financial Openness and National Autonomy, edited by Banuri, T. and Schor, J., 43–83. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.Google Scholar