GDP per capita as a share of Western Europe's in peripheral economies 1950-1998

For Western Europe's economies in the late twentieth century, there were regional differences in the development of GDP per capita in many of the northern, industrialized nations and those in the south and on the northern periphery. In 1950, GDP per capita was lower than the regional average in these countries due to the lower levels of industrialization. The south then managed to make up a lot of ground by 1973. During Western Europe's "Golden Age of Capitalism," however, Ireland actually lost ground on the rest of the region due to its isolationist policies and inability to industrialize at the same pace. The last quarter-century of the decade saw this trend reverse, with Ireland's GDP per capita eventually growing above the regional average due to the influx of U.S. investment and its increased integration with European markets.

Finland, which had a fairly unique position as being a West Bloc country within the Soviet sphere of influence, did experience some economic success during the Cold War through its exports into the East Bloc. The dissolution of the Soviet Union saw Finland rapidly restructure its economy to compete with the west, which caused GDP to fall by 14 percent between 1989 and 1993. By the end of the decade, however, this transition saw Finland emerge as a global leader in the export of high-tech goods, and income surpassed Swedish figures. By 2004, Ireland and Finland were respectively ranked as the top two leading nations in high-tech manufacturing by the OECD.