Quantitative Aspects of Post-War European Economic Growth

Interest in growth theory has reawakened since the middle of the 1980s, but it is some time since a comparative exercise has been carried out. This volume explores the catch-up and convergence evidence of European growth on a cross-sectional basis, armed not only with alternative theoretical ideas, but also with the empirical evidence since 1950 on which to draw. Individual chapters cover macroeconomic accounts, national accounts by industry, measures of fixed capital stocks, technology indicators, human capital, total factor productivity and changes in trend rates of growth, and each assesses the pitfalls, benefits and implications of the methods used. The result is an authoritative quantitative account of the dimensions of European economic growth within an explicitly internationally comparative framework.

This volume is an authoritative quantitative account of growth in Europe since 1950 that combines historical and economic expertise. The authors explore the catch-up and convergence evidence on a cross-sectional basis, armed with alternative theoretical ideas and empirical data.

List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Preface; 1. Catch-up, convergence and the sources of post-war European growth: introduction and overview Bart van Ark and Nicholas Crafts; 2. Macroeconomic accounts for European countries Angus Maddison; 3. Sectoral growth accounting and structural change in post-war Europe Bart van Ark; 4. Measures of fixed capital stocks in the post-war period: a five-country study Mary O'Mahony; 5. Technology indicators and economic growth in the European area: some empirical evidence Bart Verspagen; 6. Human capital and productivity in manufacturing during the twentieth century: Britain, Germany and the United States Stephen N. Broadberry and Karin Wagner; 7. Convergence and divergence in the European periphery: productivity in Eastern and Southern Europe in retrospect Bart van Ark; 8. Convergence: what the historical record shows Stephen N. Broadberry; 9. Growth and convergence in OECD countries: a closer look Javier Andrés, Rafael Doménech and César Molinas; 10. On the historical continuity of the process of economic growth Theo van de Klundert and Anton van Schaik; 11. Europe's Golden Age: an econometric investigation of changing trend rates of growth Nicholas Crafts and Terence C. Mills; Index.