This paper considers the role of international openness in facilitating the convergence of average income per capita between countries. The statistical technique of Discriminant Analysis is used to sort economies into groups of open and closed on the basis of a number of measures of the stance...

There is a strong partial correlation between openness and rates of productivity growth across UK manufacturing sectors. The paper investigates the relationship more formally, within a theoretical model of productivity catch-up. The model identifies three potential effects of international...