ABSTRACT
Most economists know about the post Second World War economic convergence among members of the OECD industrialized club. They are less likely to know that convergence has been a fact of economic life since the 1850s (Baumol et al. 1989; de Long 1988; Williamson 1992). The experience has been manifested by three regimes: the late-nineteenth-century convergence up to 1913; a cessation of convergence between the start of the First World War and the conclusion of the Second World War; and the resumption of convergence since. The latenineteenth-century convergence among members of the current OECD club is especially interesting for three reasons: it was as dramatic as the more recent experience since 1950; it was manifested primarily by the erosion of gaps between the New World and the Old, rather than by an erosion of gaps within either region; and it took place in an environment of relatively free factor and commodity flows.
