Explaining Variations in the Knowledge Economy in Three Small Wealthy Countries

At a broad level, it has been shown that different institutional contexts, policy regimes and business systems affect the kinds of activities in which a nation specialises. This paper is concerned with the way in which different national business systems affect the nature of participation of a nation in the knowledge economy. The paper seeks to explain cross-national variations in the knowledge economy in the Australia, Denmark and Sweden with reference to dominant characteristics of the business system. Although Australia, Denmark and Sweden are all small wealthy countries, they each have quite distinctive business systems. Australia has been regarded as a variant of the competitive business system and has generally been described as an entrepreneurial economy with a large small firm population. In contrast Sweden has a coordinated business system that has favoured large industrial firms. The Danish variant of the coordinated model, with its well-developed vocational training system, is distinguishable by its large population of networked small and medium size enterprises. The three countries also differ significantly on two dimensions of participation in the knowledge economy. First, there is cross-national variation in patterns of specialisation in knowledge intensive industries and services. Second, the institutional infrastructure of the knowledge economy (or the existing stock of knowledge and competence in the economy, the potential for generation and diffusion of new knowledge and the capacity for commercialisation of new ideas) differs across the three countries. This paper seeks to explain variations in these two dimensions of the knowledge economy with reference to characteristics of the business system in the three countries.     

Are the BRIC countries overtaking intermediate countries in the race for international R&D? The case of Spain

The emergence of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as international locations for foreign direct investment in R&D is a sign that multinationals are relocating their technological activities to new territories. This trend may weaken the supremacy of the developed countries until now considered leaders in innovation, and may mean the loss of the competitive advantages enjoyed by the countries considered intermediate innovators. This paper examines the situation of Spain as a typical intermediate economy and compares it to its main competitors among the BRICs. Based on eight case studies of subsidiaries with R&D centres in Spain, we conclude that the policies adopted by certain emerging economies to develop their national innovation systems are proving effective and that these countries now pose a threat to intermediate economies. However, the BRICs still lag behind in terms of the security of their institutional framework; this situation leaves intermediate countries in an advantageous position.     

发展战略、自生能力和经济收敛

从理论上说通过较快的资本积累和从发达国家引进技术,欠发达国家可以缩小与发达国家的收入差距。然而,这样的经济收敛仅仅发生于东亚少数几个经济。我认为:一个经济的产业和技术结构是由其要素禀赋结构所内生决定的。一个发展中国家的政府所采取的发展战略是决定收敛是否会发生的重要因素。假如发展中国家的政府选择优先发展和这个经济的要素禀赋所决定的比较优势不相符合的产业和技术结构,在一个竞争的市场中,优先发展部门内的企业将缺乏自生能力。为了使缺乏自生能力的企业能够被建立起来并生存,政府将必须扭曲利率、汇率和其他价格并用行政手段配置资源来补贴或保护这些企业。市场的作用会受到抑制,寻租行为将会盛行.结果,这个经济的发展绩效会很差,收敛也就不会发生。只有当发展中国家的政府以比较优势作为产业发展的基本准则时,这个经济才会有运行良好的市场,才能易于从发达国家引进技术,维持高的资本积累率,达到要素禀赋结构的快速升级并实现收敛。根据跨国经验数据回归分析所得到的结果证实,在产业和技术选择上遵循或违背比较优势原则是一个国家能否成功实现收敛的重要决定因素。所以,一个发展中国家的政府应该以要素禀赋结构的升级为目标,改善市场的作用,鼓励企业在做产业和技术选择时充分利用这个经济的比较优势。     

基于皮尔森不确定性图的中小企业技术创新领域选择及实现策略

中小企业在国民经济中扮演着越来越重要的角色,他们已经成为市场经济中最活跃的主体,其获得进一步发展的关键在于技术创新。本文分析了中小企业技术创新的特点,根据皮尔森不确定性图中不同象限对创新能力要求以及中小企业技术创新的特点,确定了中小企业的创新领域,并提出中小企业在各个领域创新应采取的策略,从而增强中小企业创新成功的机率,最终实现中小企业做大做强的目标。     

Technological retard in small least developed countries — small is beautiful but fragile?

This paper argued the technological retard and its influence to stagnant economic growth in small least developed countries. First we measured the technological development by UNIDO's TCI, and found that the level of technical complexities in island or inland countries was lower than the normal level by 27 and 57 per cent. We also found that the development of technical complexity is very important to industrialization in developing countries. Thus the stagnant technological improvement is one of the reasons for low growth of LDCs handicapped by smallness or isolation. Secondly we analyzed the relation between stagnant technological improvement and the low growth of small LDCs by a simple growth model, which combines the Romer-type non-linear production function and human capital growth equation. The brain drain was explicitly considered a main hindrance of human capital formation in these LDCs.     

Are external shocks responsible for the instability of output in low-income countries?

External shocks, such as commodity price fluctuations, natural disasters, and the role of the international economy, are often blamed for the poor economic performance of low-income countries. This paper quantifies the impact of these different external shocks using a panel vector auto-regression approach and determines their contributions to output volatility in low-income countries. We find that they can only explain a small fraction of the output variance of a typical low-income country. Other factors, most likely internal causes, are the main source of fluctuations. From a quantitative perspective, the output effect of external shocks is typically small in absolute terms, but significant relative to the historic performance of these countries.     

中国期货市场的回顾与展望

中国期货市场产生于中国由计划经济向市场经济转轨的过程中，其形成与发达国家期货市场迥然不同。随着中国经济的逐步市场化，中国经济的逐渐国际化，政府扮演的角色的重要程度势必越来越小，期货市场在市场经济中将会充分发挥其功能，成为中国市场经济体系不可或缺的组成部分。     

Rethinking a National Innovation System: The Small Country as 'SME'

Most debates and discussions regarding trends towards globalization and localization, occur in the over-arching context of the knowledge economy, and focus on the impact of these trends on innovation and competitiveness in the 'Triad' of Europe, Japan and the USA. However, in the knowledge economy, competitiveness is increasingly based upon access to knowledge, in the form of skills and capabilities, wherever it is located in the world including the smaller industrialized countries. This paper extends the discussion of the impacts of globalization and localization to encompass other nations and their 'national innovation systems'. Policy underpinning national systems to encourage innovation is increasingly being called into question by the general move towards globalization and localization. Multi-national enterprises (MNEs) and localized clusters in the emerging technologies determine and control technological paths beyond and through national borders. Small industrialized nations which have neither a broad technological base, extensive science and technology infrastructure or resources, nor MNEs based in the country, run the risk of being marginalized when competing globally, through an inability to become involved in these international economic networks. A traditional policy response by small countries to the impact of globalization is to metaphorically 'batten down the hatches' against the invasion of MNEs and the exploitation of local resources. However, an exploration of the drivers of both globalization and localization in the knowledge economy, and the observed impacts of globalization on New Zealand, suggests that a suitable strategy for small nations might be the reverse scenario. By using the analogy of the small country as a small and medium sized enterprise (SME) in the global economy dominated by large nations and MNEs, SME advantages and disadvantages are mapped onto potential small country advantages and disadvantages. The simile is extended to propose a small-country strategy based on exploiting the documented advantages of SMEs, such as flexibility and use of external networks, for an outward-looking, supplier-orientated innovation policy. Such a policy has to be designed for rapid communication and flexibility, and has to encourage committed technological accumulation and networking, to maximize national absorptive and transformative capacities.     

Will low technology products disappear?: The hidden innovation processes in low technology industries

Political discussions and analyses have usually been devoted to an understanding of the development of high technology products, although low technology products have dominated the industrial structure of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The important role of low technology products in these countries raises the question of whether we can observe a technological paradox in the industrial structure of the more advanced nations, the dominant role of this sector in spite of its competitive disadvantages because of high wages. Using the Danish packaging industry as an example, a central thesis in the article is that innovation processes are important in low technology industries. They are also often an integrated part of the marketing and production functions of the firm. The innovation processes in the low technology industries are therefore too complex for traditional R&D analyses to handle. The article points out that—especially in small firms—the “practical man” and his “tacit knowledge” play a very central role in both product and process development, and that low technology, even in the future, will play a central role in the industrial structure of the OECD countries.     

Rethinking a National Innovation System: The Small Country as 'SME'

Most debates and discussions regarding trends towards globalization and localization, occur in the over-arching context of the knowledge economy, and focus on the impact of these trends on innovation and competitiveness in the 'Triad' of Europe, Japan and the USA. However, in the knowledge economy, competitiveness is increasingly based upon access to knowledge, in the form of skills and capabilities, wherever it is located in the world including the smaller industrialized countries. This paper extends the discussion of the impacts of globalization and localization to encompass other nations and their 'national innovation systems'. Policy underpinning national systems to encourage innovation is increasingly being called into question by the general move towards globalization and localization. Multi-national enterprises (MNEs) and localized clusters in the emerging technologies determine and control technological paths beyond and through national borders. Small industrialized nations which have neither a broad technological base, extensive science and technology infrastructure or resources, nor MNEs based in the country, run the risk of being marginalized when competing globally, through an inability to become involved in these international economic networks. A traditional policy response by small countries to the impact of globalization is to metaphorically 'batten down the hatches' against the invasion of MNEs and the exploitation of local resources. However, an exploration of the drivers of both globalization and localization in the knowledge economy, and the observed impacts of globalization on New Zealand, suggests that a suitable strategy for small nations might be the reverse scenario. By using the analogy of the small country as a small and medium sized enterprise (SME) in the global economy dominated by large nations and MNEs, SME advantages and disadvantages are mapped onto potential small country advantages and disadvantages. The simile is extended to propose a small-country strategy based on exploiting the documented advantages of SMEs, such as flexibility and use of external networks, for an outward-looking, supplier-orientated innovation policy. Such a policy has to be designed for rapid communication and flexibility, and has to encourage committed technological accumulation and networking, to maximize national absorptive and transformative capacities.     

The impact of technological opportunity on the dynamics of trade performance

The paper examines statistically whether the degree to which countries are specialised in and/or increasingly move into sectors with above average levels of technological opportunity has any impact on growth in aggregate market shares of exports. A novelty of the paper is that it applies structural decomposition (SD) analysis not only on trade statistics, but also on US patent statistics. Nineteen countries and 17 manufacturing sectors for the period 1965–1988 are considered. A number of variables, in addition to the effects from the SD analysis, are included as explanatory variables. In this context, it is shown that there is a positive relationship between trade performance and the individual country’s ability to move into technological sectors offering above average technological opportunity.     

How Digital Economy Affects High-Quality Economic Development: Based on International Comparison

This paper estimates the size of the digital economy in 38 countries between 2005 and 2018 and conducts an empirical study on this foundation. The results show that the digital economy has a significant role in promoting high quality economic development, primarily through industrial digitalizaion. Further research shows regional heterogeneity in the impact of the digital economy, which is greater in developed countries. Analysis of the underlying mechanisms shows that the digital economy promotes high-quality economic development in both developed and developing countries by improving technological efficiency and technological progress. However, the effect of technological progress in developing countries is clearly weaker than that in developed countries. In addition, scale efficiency in developing countries are not strengthened by the digital economy. Therefore, high-quality economic development requires the digital transformation of traditional industries and promoting their integration with digital technologies.     

Global dynamics,capabilities and the crisis

The financial crisis started in 2007–8, initially in the US, but its consequences have been felt throughout the global economy. However, its effects were far from uniform. While parts of Asia and Africa continued to grow fast, Europe experienced a large set back. This paper emphasizes three important factors: differences across countries in technological development; differences in capacities to exploit the opportunities offered by technology; and differences in the ability to compete in international market. A formal model, based on this approach, is developed and applied to data for 100 countries in the period 1997–2012. Empirical indicators reflecting the various factors are developed, a dataset constructed and econometric estimates of the model performed. The results are used to explore the factors behind the slowdown in economic growth, with a particular emphasis on the continuing stagnation in Europe. A major factor turns out to be the increased financialization of the economy. The negative effect of the growth of finance prior to the crisis is especially pronounced for the countries that suffered most during the crisis.     

发达国家科技政策中的趋同模式解读及其经验借鉴

发达国家的科技和经济能够始终走在世界前列，与它本身的科技政策有着密切的关系。科技政策的激励和引导作用使发达国家的创新机制稳步形成并发挥着决定性作用。本文通过分析发达国家科技政策中的共同做法．从中找出具有借鉴意义的模式．以促进我国创新型国家战略的实施和建设。     

Influence of policy,operational and market conditions on seaport efficiency in newly emerging economies: the case of Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Located in Southeast Asia as one of the most dynamic economic regions in the world and close to north-south shipping routes, Vietnam’s seaports play a vital role in promoting its international trade and economic growth. And yet, most ports are small and owned by the public sector. Their performance is subject to various factors relating to government policy, operational and market conditions. Although the Government has been trying to improve the sector’s performance through corporatization, its corporatization model is unique in many ways compared with reform models in other countries. This study seeks to analyse the effects of government policy, operational and market conditions among other factors, on Vietnamese seaports’ efficiency. Double-bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) and univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using the data sample of 41 ports for years 2015 and 2016. The analysis results show that the factors of production, regional location and reform policy had a significant impact on port performance.     

A historical investigation of the geography of innovative activities

Research and development activities, as well as all other economic activities, do not occur in a spaceless economy, but are related to particular geographical areas. This paper investigates to what extent technological activities have a tendency to concentrate in centres of excellence or to diffuse across many countries. A framework for the identification of different technological trends is created. The main findings of this paper show the existence of four different technological trends, two of them connected to the characteristics of the national system of innovation of countries and the other two related to the particular features of technology.     

Intellectual property rights and the upgrading of the global value chain status

The present paper explores how intellectual property rights (IPR) protection affects an economy’s status in global value chains (GVC) by introducing IPR protection into the sequential production model. We find that a suitable IPR protection system that matches the phase of economic and technological development a country has reached is the key for developing countries to upgrade their status in GVC, which are dominated by multinational firms from developed countries. Empirical analysis with multinational panel data for 55 countries from 2005 to 2015 provides evidence in support of the predictions of this model, although the GVC‐enhancing effects of IPR protection are heterogeneous for developing and developed countries. The empirical conclusions are robust after using the instrumental variable method and controlling for endogeneity.     

Technological specialization and economic performance in oecd countries

The paper investigates the growing sectoral specialization in technological activities of OECD countries (measured using patent data) and its impact on countries innovative-and economic performance in the 1975-1990 period. Aggregate indicators of sectoral specialization are introduced, showing the extent to which countries concentrate their innovations in few fields, or spread them across several sectors. A general positive relationship us found between the degree of specializatin in technology and higher rates of growth, while specialization in electronics-related fields in not associated to better economic or technological performances.The position of individual countries in these patterns is also examined, showing that specialization has been an element of the catching-up process of the past decades, which has led to a growing economic convergence among OECD countries.     

Fiscal policy and the Spanish business cycle

A main result of the RBC literature is that technological factors drive fluctuations of macroeconomic variables around its long-run growth path. Nevertheless, it has been shown that in some countries fluctuations of some fiscal variables may explain some of the business cycle fluctuations. In this paper I show that a result of this sort can be obtained for the Spanish economy. Specifically, I use both technological and fiscal shocks to reproduce the observed volatility of hours of work to output, hours of work to average productivity, and the negative correlation between hours and average productivity.     

Privatizations around the world: economic or political determinants?

The article examines economic, political, and institutional determinants of privatization using a panel of 50 countries over the period of 1988–2006. Our sample includes developed, developing, and transition economies. Privatization activity is measured by the number of privatization deals as well as the revenue raised and analyzed using the negative binomial regression and Tobit regression respectively. Although more privatization activity is usually taking place in countries displaying satisfactory economic performance in some respect, the role of economic factors turns out to be limited. The results identify a number of political and institutional determinants but some effects are specific to a particular type of economy. For example, in developing countries, right‐wing governments are associated with privatizations while new, not necessarily right‐wing governments, are behind privatization in Eastern Europe. The role of financial development is also varied, with sound financial institutions related to successful privatization in developed and developing countries but not in transition economies.