The intelligent layperson would be unimpressed by the originality of this argument. That the past systematically preys on the present is hardly rocket science. Yet theories based on convergence would rule such obvious arguments out. Under convergence, the very fact that the poor have limited capital relative to labor allows them to grow faster and (ultimately) to catch up. Economists are so used to the convergence mechanism that they sometimes do not appreciate just how unintuitive it is.