408 Globalization and Inequality, Past and Present
GLOBALIZATION AND INEQUALITY
IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The spread between real wages from 1854 to 1913 in fifteen countries is shown
in Figure 1. The downward trend confirms what new-growth theorists call
convergence, that is, a narrowing in the economic distance between rich and poor
countries. The convergence is more dramatic when America and Canada—which
were richer—or when Portugal and Spain—who failed to play the globalization
FIGURE 1. Real Wage Dispersion, 1854–1913
Note: Wage data are urban, male, purchasing-power-parity adjusted.
Source: Williamson (1996a), Figure 1.