Technological Shifts and Convergence in a European Perspective since 1950

The paper analyses the behaviour of convergence/divergence primarily within Western Europe and the OECD in relation to market integration and to major technological shifts such as the second and the third industrial revolution. It also relates the behaviour to traditional growth theory and endogenous growth theory as well as to historical generalisations based on structural analysis. The empirical focus is on an econometric analysis of convergence/divergence since 1950 in order to develop measures of these forces as continuous processes over time. The analysis indicates trend shifts from convergence to divergence with the appearance of stronger divergent forces in combination with the major technological shifts. There is as well a cyclical variation between divergence/convergence from the 1970s. It also indicates a pronounced structural divergence from 1990 in combination with accelerated growth in mainly English-speaking economies.