We address the problem of measuring, in the absence of reliable indices of technology levels, how much of the convergence we observe is due to convergence in technology or in capital-labour ratios. We first develop a growth model where technology accumulation in lagging economies depends on...

We analyse a world economy composed of a continuum of small countries producing two final goods, the learning-by-doing potentials of which differ significantly. In autarky, the knowledge accumulated in the high-learning sector spills over into the low-learning one. A steady-state equilibrium...

This paper aims at assessing whether dualism represents a significant source of the aggregate labour productivity convergence observed across the European regions in the 1980s. We use a model of the dual economy based on the work of Dixit (Oxford Economic Papers, 22, 229-34, 1970), and...

By studying the interaction between social capital and decentralization, we show that political decentralization can be a source of divergence across heterogeneous regions. In particular, we claim that since the local endowments of social capital display their effect on the economy mainly...