Entrepreneurship culture,total factor productivity growth and technical progress: Patterns of convergence towards the technological frontier

A firm's set of knowledge processes may be affected by the entrepreneurial culture of the country in which it is located. Total factor productivity, mainly associated with technical progress, accounts for most differences over time and across countries. In the present work we examine the determinants of total factor productivity growth in 26 OECD countries between 1965 and 2010, breaking them down into changes in technical efficiency and shifts in technology over time. Using the US as the technology frontier, different patterns of productivity growth emerge between world technology leaders and countries with low initial levels of productivity. Whereas changes in efficiency seem to be the main result of the evolution in the stock of knowledge in technologically dependent economies, suggesting that less advanced economies can benefit from their relative backwardness, domestic research effort appears to be a relevant factor for technology leaders.     

Efficiency measurement using a latent class stochastic frontier model

Efficiency estimation in stochastic frontier models typically assumes that the underlying production technology is the same for all firms. There might, however, be unobserved differences in technologies that might be inappropriately labeled as inefficiency if such variations in technology are not taken into account. We address this issue by estimating a latent class stochastic frontier model in a panel data framework. An application of the model is presented using Spanish banking data. Our results show that bank-heterogeneity can be fully controlled when a model with four classes is estimated. This paper was written during Luis Oreas visit to Binghamton University in the summer of 2002. We would like to thank an associate editor of the journal and two anonymous referees for their detailed comments. However, we alone are responsible for any remaining errors.     

前沿技术、吸收能力与中国区域 产业的协同发展*

本文以新增长理论为基础,构建了区域产业与前沿技术差距、区域产业自身发展条件和前沿技术吸收能力的整合空间面板实证分析框架,量化分析了前沿技术、吸收能力和空间外部性引致的产业全要素生产率的收敛机制。研究结论表明：区域产业与前沿技术的差距对于产业的全要素生产率收敛具有显著的促进效应,在短期体现为能够显著的促进区域全要素生产率的增长,长期则表现为存在长期协整关系;前沿技术的吸收能力能够显著地提高全要素生产率;空间溢出效应则进一步强化了这一效应。因此,提升区域产业自身对前沿技术的吸收能力,合理协调区域基础设施、研发创新等空间发展规划,是实现中国区域产业协同发展的有效途径,也有助于实现区域经济协调发展的宏观目标。     

金融转型、技术创新与中国经济 发展方式的转变

本文建立世代交叠模型,分析金融转型对技术创新和经济发展方式转变的影响。分析表明,在经济发展的早期阶段,选择以投资扩张和技术转移为基础的发展战略是后发国家促进技术进步的最优选择;当距离世界技术前沿越来越近时,技术进步的主要方式将会转向技术创新。在转变过程中,后发国家的金融发展水平具有门槛效应。后发国家在前一阶段赖以进行投资扩张的金融体制,加上追赶型发展战略下地方政府的增长最大化冲动,可能会延迟后发国家向以技术创新为基础的发展方式转变。     

Poverty traps in a frictionless world: The effects of learning and technology assimilation

We study an endogenous growth model of technology assimilation through an adaptive learning process defining the accumulation of technological knowledge among both workers and industrial clusters. The assimilation of new technology and the arrival rate of innovations are both based on the distance from the technological frontier to the current technological development level of the country. We illustrate how, even if technological innovations become immediately available to all countries, and absent educational and institutional frictions among countries, differences in technological development levels allow for the existence of poverty traps leading to the economic stagnation of technological laggards.     

对外贸易、金融改革和经济增长:来自中国的证据

本文根据技术扩散模型阐释,中国的技术进步取决于它对先进技术的吸收能力和可吸收的世界先进技术集合的乘积。金融改革通过消除经济扭曲提升我国的吸收能力。如果国际先进技术通过对外贸易扩散到中国,那么对外贸易和金融改革在增长中就存在相互促进的作用。利用中国改革开放后的数据,我们没有发现对外贸易(出口或进出口)和金融改革在促进经济增长中有显著的互补作用。该结论在控制条件收敛、其他经济增长因素、分省和时间效应后成立,并在解决贸易的内生性后仍然稳健。将该结论和我们已发现的金融改革和外商直接投资在促进经济增长中有显著的互补作用的结果相对照,可见,与国际贸易相比,国际先进技术更可能通过外商直接投资扩散到中国。     

MARKETS,EXTERNALITIES, AND THE DYNAMIC GAINS OF OPENNESS

Inflows of foreign knowledge are key for developing countries to catch up with the world technology frontier. I construct a model to analyze the entry decisions of foreign firms and the incentives of domestic firms to invest in their own know‐how, given the exposure to foreign ideas and competition. The model embeds two diffusion mechanisms typically considered separately in the literature: externalities and markets. I find that openness allows developing countries to fully catch up only when market transactions dominate the diffusion of ideas. Externalities are never enough to catch up and may lead to losses in income and welfare.     

On modeling the determinants of TFP growth

We investigate the determinants of TFP growth of Italian manufacturing firms. Using stochastic frontier techniques, we consider three approaches for taking into account the influence of external factors, i.e., the determinants or drivers of growth. First, in our novel approach external factors may influence the technological progress, that is the shift of the frontier. To model this possible unexplored effect, we extend the standard time trend model to make it a function of the external factors. Then, following more standard approaches, we model external factors as either influencing the distance from the frontier, i.e., inefficiency, or the shape of the technology. Using a sample of manufacturing firms in 1998–2003, we find that technological investments and spillovers, human capital and regional banking inefficiency all have a significant effect on TFP growth.     

银行主导型金融对制造业企业技术进步的影响——基于技术距离的视角

制造业企业的技术发展离不开适宜类型的金融支持。那么,我国以商业银行为主导的金融体系对其具有怎样的影响？本文从技术距离视角出发,通过构建熊彼特内生增长模型探究银行主导型金融体系对制造业企业技术进步的影响效应及作用机理,并运用中国工业企业数据库与城市数据库的匹配数据进行实证检验。研究发现：当制造业企业远离技术前沿时,银行主导型金融对其技术进步具有明显的促进作用,但随着企业接近技术前沿,该作用将由正转负。相较于国有和抵押资产丰富的制造业企业,银行主导型金融对技术进步的负向作用在非国有和抵押资产匮乏企业中出现较早。机制检验表明,在远离技术前沿阶段,银行主导型金融能够激励制造业企业创新从而促进其技术进步,但在接近技术前沿后,银行主导型金融难以通过激励企业创新驱动其技术进步。研究结论对如何深化金融供给侧结构性改革、增强金融服务制造业之功效具有一定的指导意义。     

Illegal Migration, Border Enforcement, and Growth

This paper analyzes the economic consequences of illegal migrants in the context of a model of trade and growth. In the model, capital and domestic labor are mobile sectors while illegal migrants are sector-specific. These assumptions give rise to a production possibility curve (with migrants) that lies partially inside the zero migration production possibility frontier. It is this feature of the model which generates ambiguous results regarding the relation betweendomestic welfare, illegal migrants, and enforcement. The steady-state growth path with migrants may lie above or below the balanced growth path without migrants.     

Distance to Frontier and New Import Growth

In a panel‐data study involving product‐level import data for 48 developing countries that underwent substantial trade liberalization between 1989 and 2001, this study finds that the growth of trade in new goods imported following major trade liberalization is related to the state of technology that existed just before liberalization. The study develops two new measures of the extensive margin. Findings indicate that greater is the distance of a country from the world technology frontier, the faster is its growth of new goods imports. This indicates a higher cost of trade protection for countries further away from the world technology frontier.     

The effects of human capital composition on technological convergence

This paper empirically investigates whether the contribution of human capital to productivity growth depends on the composition of human capital and proximity to the technology frontier in a panel of 87 sample countries over the period 1970–2004. It tests the hypothesis that primary and secondary education is more suitable for imitation whereas tertiary education is more appropriate for innovation. The results show that the growth enhancing effects of higher education increase with proximity to the technology frontier only for high and medium income countries.     

R＆D、R＆D溢出、内生增长和内生收敛

根据强调知识与技术创新、知识与技术溢出重要性的当代内生增长理论，本文建立了一个将R＆D和R＆D溢出与资本积累之间、R＆D和R＆D溢出与总产出增长之间直接关联起来的动态模型。面板数据协整检验实证分析结果表明R＆D和R＆D溢出与资本积累之间、R＆D和R＆D溢出与总产出增长之间分别存在显著的正面长期协整关联。进一步的分析表明，R＆D与资本积累之间、R＆D与总产出增长之间分别存在显著的长期双向格兰杰因果关系。由此观知，R＆D乃长期经济增长源泉之所在。另一方面，尽管资本积累或总产出增长并不格兰杰导致R＆D溢出，证据表明R＆D溢出格兰杰导致资本积累和总产出增长。这种由R＆D溢出到资本积累和总产出增长的单向格兰杰因果关系意味着尽管知识与技术的跨国传播并非必然发生。其实为世界经济增长的重要动力。     

Metabolic growth theory: market-share competition,learning uncertainty,and technology wavelets

Both exogenous and endogenous growth theories in neoclassical economics ignore the resource constraints and wavelike patterns in technology development. The logistic growth and species competition model in population dynamics provides an evolutionary framework of economic growth driven by technology wavelets in market-share competition. Learning by doing and knowledge accumulation ignores the interruptive nature of technology advancement. Creative destruction can be understood by using knowledge metabolism. Policies and institutions co-evolve during different stages of technology cycles. Division of labor is limited by the market extent, numbers of resources, and environment fluctuations. There is a trade-off between the stability and complexity of an ecological-industrial system. Diversified patterns in development strategy are shaped by culture and environment when facing learning uncertainty. The Western mode of division of labor is characterized by labor-saving and resource-intensive technology, while the Asian and Chinese modes feature resource-saving and labor-intensive technology. Nonlinear population dynamics provides a unified evolutionary theory from Smith, Malthus, to Schumpeter in economic growth and technology development.     

An analysis of the efficient production frontier in the fishery: implications for enhanced fisheries management

The transformation relationship between factor inputs and outputs - the efficient production frontier (EPF)- contains important information for fisheries managers. A directional technology distance function model of the harvesting technology is used to measure changes in the EPF over time. Frontier shifts are summarized with input- and output-based frontier indicators that are interpreted as measures of bioeconomic productivity change. The model is applied to the Mid-Atlantic surf clam and ocean quahog fishery.     

技术产出弹性、两阶段创新效率与高技术产业竞争力研究

以技术存量水平为门槛变量,对高技术产业生产方程进行分解,发现区域间技术产出弹性存在显著差异,据此对29个地区分组建立前沿面,测度知识生产和成果转化两阶段创新效率,并研究创新效率对区域高技术产业竞争力的实际影响。结果表明：①先发地区凭借较高的技术产出弹性,获得远超其它地区的高速增长;②产品生产中的创新效率,即成果转化率提升能够显著促进产业竞争力提升;③知识生产中全要素生产率提升能够显著扩大产业竞争力上升幅度,但知识生产中技术效率提升对产业竞争力的影响并不显著。     

基础研究是否推动我国先进制造技术向国际前沿收敛——基于追赶阶段与技术子领域差异的分析

为探究加速我国先进制造技术差距收敛的有效途径，以技术追赶过程的阶段性和先进制造技术不同子领域的结构化差异为切入点进行实证研究，揭示基础研究在先进制造技术追赶过程中的作用机制。研究发现：相较于追赶阶段，基础研究在后追赶阶段显著促进我国先进制造技术差距收敛；基础研究知识成果产出吸引企业进行研发活动，推动我国先进制造技术差距收敛。进一步讨论发现，先进制造技术结构化特征影响基础研究对技术差距收敛的促进作用。因此，在后追赶阶段，准确把握技术追赶阶段变迁带来的机会窗口，强化基础研究是推动我国先进制造技术向国际前沿收敛的必要手段。     

Trade, technology transfer and national efficiency in developing countries

This paper simultaneously explores the determinants of the developing countries’ production frontier and these countries’ ‘efficiency’ in using the available resources and technology. In doing so it allows for the transfer of (industrial country) technology in determining the frontier and for international trade's influence on absorptive capacity and national efficiency levels. Stochastic frontier analysis is used to model the production frontier for 57 developing countries for the period 1970-1998, to measure cross-country and temporal differences in efficiency levels and to explain the differences in efficiency levels. The results indicate significant differences in efficiency levels across countries and regions and movement over time, and an important influence of trade and trade policy in raising output both through technology improvements embodied in imported capital goods and by inducing efficiency improvements.     

Catch-up and fall-back through innovation and imitation

Will fast growing emerging economies sustain rapid growth rates until they “catch-up” to the technology frontier? Are there incentives for some developed countries to free-ride off of innovators and optimally “fall-back” relative to the frontier? This paper models agents growing as a result of investments in innovation and imitation. Imitation facilitates technology diffusion, with the productivity of imitation modeled by a catch-up function that increases with distance to the frontier. The resulting equilibrium is an endogenous segmentation between innovators and imitators, where imitating agents optimally choose to “catch-up” or “fall-back” to a productivity ratio below the frontier.     

ENDOGENOUS HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT AND THE INTERACTION OF FRONTIER AND ADOPTIVE KNOWLEDGE ON GROWTH AND WAGE INEQUALITY

A three-sector, overlapping-generations growth model endogenizes the opportunity cost of human capital formation and the relative skill requirements of invention, innovation, and adoption of general-purpose technologies. As a result, the relative wage of skilled workers is a function of the endogenous ratio of total-to-adoptive knowledge (where the difference in knowledge stocks is frontier knowledge). Comparative statics are examined for the model's seven parameters. Simulations (representing a transition with phases to a more complex level of economic development) are presented for simultaneous exogenous shocks capable of matching (i) observed inverse movements of the relative wage and the detrended relative supply in the USA, (ii) the sharp slowing and recovering US multifactor productivity growth data since the 1970s, and (iii) a reconciliation of data used to support or deny skill-biased technological change as a major force driving up the relative wage since 1980.