Technology spillover effects and economic integration: evidence from integrating EU countries

The article uses time series for the period 1981–2008 to estimate the impact of foreign technology spillover effects on Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, representing the integrating European Union (EU) countries. I restrict technology diffusion to EU-12 countries and compare the results to unrestricted technology diffusion from a sample of 32 OECD countries. Accounting for nonstationarity and co-integration, the dynamic OLS estimator is used to estimate the impact of foreign R&D stock on labour productivity, taking into account patent-, trade- and FDI-related technology diffusion channels. I find empirical evidence for trade-related foreign technology spillover effects for Greece and Ireland if technology diffusion is unrestricted. Restricting technology diffusion to EU-12 countries, there are significant foreign technology spillover effects from European integration for Portugal (patent related) and Spain (trade and FDI related). Moreover, the domestic R&D stock and education are significant drivers for labour productivity in integrating EU countries. The empirical results are robust for different regression specifications and sources of technology diffusion.     

Measuring (in a time of crisis) the impact of broadband connections on economic growth: an OECD panel analysis

Technological innovation has always been considered a major stimulus for economic growth. High-speed internet access via broadband infrastructure has undergone rapid development since the end of the 1990s, thanks to the deployment of both fixed and mobile technologies. The present study investigates the impact of fixed broadband diffusion as a technological determinant of economic growth on the basis of a panel of 23 OECD countries over 15 years (1996–2010). The time horizon chosen is suitable for verification of the causal effect on growth of the transition from traditional copper to partially fibre networks. Through implementation of a dynamic panel by using the generalized method of moments (GMM) combined with an instrumental variable (IV) two-stage approach, we found a positive correlation between broadband diffusion and economic growth, even after controlling for countries initial endowment of information and communication technologies (ICT) and for the years of economic crisis. Our main finding provides evidence, through a continuous time interpretation of our estimations, of a quantitatively relevant relationship between broadband diffusion and economic dynamics in the short, medium and long runs. Our findings may be useful to policy makers in that they permit forecasting of the benefits of further transition from broadband to ultra-wide broadband networks.     

开放因素对中国制造业部门的技术溢出效应研究

利用2004～2008年间的动态面板数据模型,对开放因素为中国制造业部门所带来的技术溢出效应进行了实证分析。结果表明:(1)开放因素对制造业部门的总体技术溢出效应存在很大差异,出口贸易对中国制造业部门具有显著的正向技术溢出效应,而外商投资对制造业部门的技术进步则存在负面影响;(2)分部门看,外商投资的技术溢出效应主要体现在高技术制造业和中高技术制造业部门,而出口贸易对所有制造业部门都具有显著的正向技术溢出效应。     

基于农产品质量安全的技术扩散博弈分析

在有限理性的假设下,本文采用演化博弈论方法,分析了生产者之间、生产者和消费者之间以及生产者和政府监管部门之间相互作用时的策略选择行为,揭示出经济利益是影响质量安全技术扩散的主要内在因素。因此,若要遏制不安全技术行为的发生,一是要减少生产者的违规收益,严厉处罚并提高其生产成本;二是引导消费者增加对安全农产品的需求;三是加强对监管者的再规制,提高其监测能力、监管频率等。