ABSTRACT
Economic growth is a national phenomenon. It occurs, or fails to occur, within the boundaries of a national state. Yet the existence and growth experience of other countries is highly relevant. After 1750 there was one country, the United Kingdom, and after about 1830 several countries, which had already embarked on a growth path which served to facilitate growth elsewhere. Since that time there has been a gradual diffusion of growth from leader to follower countries, which continues to the present day and has by now touched a large proportion, though by no means all, of the world’s population. This chapter explores some features of this process in the late nineteenth century
