In 1950 the United States was generally recognized as having the highest per capita output in the world. Using exchange rates to convert foreign output into dollars, the level of U.S. per capita output in 1950 was more than 50 percent higher than that of any other industrialized country. During the next two decades the conventional exchange rate-based measure of comparison indicated that these industrialized countries markedly narrowed the U.S. lead. By 1970 U.S. per capita output was still more than 15 percent higher than the next highest industrialized country, Sweden.