Summary of a Workshop on Global Convergence Scenarios: Structural and Policy Issues

This document forms a record of a workshop held on 16 January 2006, aimed at examining the mechanisms underlying cross-country convergence of per capita GDP, to what extent they operate in practice, and the implications for policies, including those requiring plausible long-term projections of economic growth by country or region. The workshop included presentations by leading academics and OECD staff from the Economics Department, the Directorates of the Environment, Science and Technology, and Statistics and the Development Centre. A list of the main participants, and links to their presentations, are given in an Annex. At the end of the workshop, a panel of senior policy advisers discussed the policy implications for OECD countries.