IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jecper/v9y1995i4p207-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Retrospective: The Convergence Debate between David Hume and Josiah Tucker

Author

Listed:
  • Bruce Truitt Elmslie

Abstract

One of the most interesting debates in modern economics centers around the question of whether integrating economies necessarily converge in terms of per capita income and technology. This debate is often believed to have been started by Thorstein Veblen in 1915. However, this paper demonstrates that the genesis of the convergence question goes back to the Scottish Enlightenment and the publication of an essay by David Hume in 1742. The ensuing 'rich country-poor country' debate--between David Hume on the convergence side and Josiah Tucker on the nonconvergence side--represents one of the first major doctrinal debates in economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce Truitt Elmslie, 1995. "Retrospective: The Convergence Debate between David Hume and Josiah Tucker," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 207-216, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:9:y:1995:i:4:p:207-16
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.9.4.207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.9.4.207
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. M. Low, 1952. "An Eighteenth Century Controversy in the Theory of Economic Progress," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 20(3), pages 311-330, September.
    2. Arthur I. Bloomfield, 1978. "The Impact of Growth and Technology on Trade in Nineteenth-Century British Thought," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 608-635, Winter.
    3. Bruce Elmslie, 1994. "The Endogenous Nature of Technological Progress and Transfer in Adam Smith's Thought," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 26(4), pages 649-663, Winter.
    4. Veblen, Thorstein, 1915. "Imperial Germany and The Industrial Revolution," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1915.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rassekh, Farhad & Panik, Michael J. & Kolluri, Bharat R., 2001. "A test of the convergence hypothesis: the OECD experience, 1950-1990," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 147-157.
    2. Medeiros, Marcelo C & Burity, Priscilla & Assunção, Juliano, 2015. "Unobserved Heterogeneity in Regression Models: A Semiparametric Approach Based on Nonlinear Sieves," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 35(1), October.
    3. Nevin Cavusoglu & Edinaldo Tebaldi, 2006. "Evaluating growth theories and their empirical support: An assessment of the convergence hypothesis," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 49-75.
    4. Tunali, Çiǧdem Börke & Yilanci, Veli, 2010. "Are per capita incomes of MENA countries converging or diverging?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(21), pages 4855-4862.
    5. Jayant Menon, 2013. "Narrowing the development divide in ASEAN: the role of policy," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(2), pages 25-51, November.
    6. IFEGWU, Kalu Ukpai & AJETOMOBI, Joshua Olusegun & AJIBOYE, Babatunde Oluseyi, 2015. "Test Of The Catch-Up Hypothesis In African Agricultural Growth Rates," Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics (RAAE), Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, vol. 18(2), pages 1-8, September.
    7. repec:rre:publsh:v:38:y:2008:i:3:p:361-79 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Farhad Rassekh, 1998. "The Convergence Hypothesis: History, Theory, and Evidence," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 85-105, January.
    2. Ziad Rotaba & Catherine Beaudry, 2012. "How Do High, Medium, And Low Tech Firms Innovate? A System Of Innovation (Si) Approach," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(05), pages 1-23.
    3. Jan Fagerberg & Martin Srholec, 2017. "Global Dynamics, Capabilities and the Crisis," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 83-106, Springer.
    4. D. Patinkin, 1995. "The training of an economist," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 48(195), pages 359-395.
    5. Jan Fagerberg & Maryann Feldman & Martin Srholec, 2011. "Technological Dynamics and Social Capability: Comparing U.S. States and European Nations," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20111114, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    6. Jacques Fontanel, 2020. "Une croissance économique sans progrès humain," Post-Print hal-03709037, HAL.
    7. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:2:y:2002:i:1:p:1-15 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Anastassios D. Karayiannis & Allan E. Young, 2003. "Entrepreneurial Activities in a Veblenian Type Transition Economy," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 47(2), pages 40-51, October.
    9. Mario Cimoli & Giovanni Dosi & Richard Nelson & Joseph Stiglitz, 2007. "Policies and Institutional Engineering in Developing Economies," Globelics Working Paper Series 2007-04, Globelics - Global Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems, Aalborg University, Department of Business and Management.
    10. Taylor, Alan M. & Williamson, Jeffrey G., 1997. "Convergence in the age of mass migration," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 27-63, April.
    11. Agnès Labrousse & Sandrine Michel, 2017. "Accumulation regimes," Post-Print hal-01719977, HAL.
    12. Gomułka Stanisław, 2017. "The Global Economy in the 21st Century: Will the Trends of the 20th Century Continue?," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2(49), pages 62-72, December.
    13. Jan Fagerberg & Martin Srholec, 2005. "Catching up: What are the Critical Factors for success?," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20050401, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    14. Mikko Valorinta & Henri Schildt & Juha-Antti Lamberg, 2011. "Path Dependence of Power Relations, Path-Breaking Change and Technological Adaptation," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 765-790, November.
    15. Mitra, Pradeep & Muravyev, Alexander & Schaffer, Mark E., 2009. "Convergence in institutions and market outcomes: cross-country and time-series evidence from the business environment and enterprise performance surveys in transition economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4819, The World Bank.
    16. Naoise McDonagh, 2021. "Credit Guidance for a Desired Economy: An Original Institutional Economics Critique of Financialization," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 675-693, December.
    17. Stavroula DIMKOU & George MAKRIS, 2017. "Financial Sector And Growth Process In South-Eastern Europe'S Former Socialist Countries: Could A Kaldorian Cumulative Causation Approach Help To Better Understand The Links Between Them?," Scientific Bulletin - Economic Sciences, University of Pitesti, vol. 16(1), pages 60-73.
    18. Fagerberg, Jan & Srholec, Martin & Verspagen, Bart, 2010. "Innovation and Economic Development," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 833-872, Elsevier.
    19. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2015. "The Scientist and the Church," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157975, October.
    20. Irina Tytell & Ksenia Yudaeva, 2005. "The Role of FDI in Eastern Europe and New Independent States: New Channels for the Spillover Effect," Working Papers w0060, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
    21. Mohammad Sharif Karimi & Andrzej Cieslik, 2017. "Foreign Knowledge Spillovers and Total Factor Productivity Growth: Evidence from Four ASEAN Countries," Iranian Economic Review (IER), Faculty of Economics,University of Tehran.Tehran,Iran, vol. 21(2), pages 267-299, Spring.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:9:y:1995:i:4:p:207-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.