Multinational Corporations and Productivity Convergence in Mexico

Since the 1960s the developing countries have had very different experiences regarding income and productivity growth, and the extent to which they have converged on developed countries. Some, such as the Asian newly-industrialized countries (NICs), clearly are in a process of rapid convergence, whereas others, such as most countries in Africa, show no sign of convergence. This indicates that the realization of the potentiality for productivity catch-up simply because of backwardness depends strongly on another set of causes, some of which are internal and others external to the countries themselves (see Abramovitz, 1986).