Unconditional Convergence in Manufacturing Productivity across U.S. States: What the Long-Run Data Show

Alexander Klein and Nicholas Crafts
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Alexander Klein: University of Kent

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper examines long-run unconditional convergence of labour productivity in manufacturing across 48 contiguous U.S. states. For that purpose, we construct a detailed panel data set of stateindustry pairs with over 120 industries covering the period 1880-2007. We find that unconditional convergence in manufacturing productivity was pervasive and rapid – 7.6% per year in 1880-2007 – and that manufacturing accounts for most of the unconditional convergence contribution to overall productivity growth over the long run: 61% in 1880-1940 and 91% in 1958-2007. We also examined broad U.S. regions and found that in the South the contribution of unconditional 𝛽-convergence in manufacturing to aggregate productivity growth before World War II was weak not because of a slower convergence rate but a much smaller manufacturing sector.

Keywords: convergence; economic growth; U.S. economic history; manufacturing belt JEL codes: O47; N11; N12; R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-geo, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-tid and nep-ure
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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/w ... rp_1458_-_crafts.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Unconditional Convergence in Manufacturing Productivity across U.S. States: What the Long-Run Data Show (2023)
Working Paper: Unconditional Convergence in Manufacturing Productivity across U.S. States: What the Long-Run Data Show (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:1458

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