Sources of convergence in the late nineteenth century

This paper investigates convergence for a group of seven countries during t he period 1870-1914. A standard empirical growth model which includes physi cal and human capital accumulation proves unsatisfactory in this setting. A n alternative neoclassical open-economy factor accumulation model is propos ed, which admits capital and labor migration, and may be extended to includ e a moving frontier. The model explains the observed convergence pattern in the sample and suggests that factor accumulation patterns were the prime s ources of labor productivity convergence from 1870 to 1914. (C) 1999 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: F02; F43; O41; N10 .