Productivity comparison between Great Britain and Germany, 1855–1913

Abstract Measuring economic development or economic performance across countries has always been a major task of economic historians.1 The basic problem has been the choice of the yardstick. How can economic performance be measured? Generations of economic historians, when trying to detect the relevant differences in the level of economic development, based their assessment of the relation between advanced countries such as Britain and so-called late-comers such as Germany solely on the then most modern sector or on a combination of modern sectors.2 In principle, this offers a biased viewpoint.