Abstract
One of the most notable features of the postwar economic performance of the advanced countries has been the substantial and persistent differences between the various economies in their rates of growth of productivity and output. Yet these disparities are merely one aspect of the more general picture of economic development. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, at which time there appears to have been little variation between areas in terms of per capita income, some countries have achieved a sustained growth in productivity whilst others have shown little or no improvement. The reasons for this, of course, remain a source of controversy.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 1st edition, 1987. Edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman
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McCombie, J.S.L. (1987). Verdoorn’s Law. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1493-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1493-1
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