R&D and Technological Learning in Indian Industry: Econometric Estimation of the Research Production Function

Estimation of research production functions has produced rich and useful results for developed countries in the past. This paper makes a pioneering attempt to estimate the same in the context of a less-developed country (LDC) (India). The objective is to examine the process of technology generation and learning in Indian industry. The existing literature recognizes two principal characteristics of technological activities in LDCs. First, their R&D effort is geared towards "minor" as opposed to "major" innovations. Second, technological learning constitutes an integral part of their research thrust. This paper attempts to capture these characteristics in a rigorous econometric framework by estimating a comprehensive research production function incorporating the role of learning. We use Indian firm-level in-house R&D data for two sectors: pharmaceuticals and electronics. Our study not only captures the role of learning in determining research effort and research output, but also re-examines some of the existing hypotheses relating to the effects of firm size, technology import and ownership. We find that the two sectors display two distinct learning trajectories, but in both cases learning proves to be crucially important in technology generation.     

Agricultural exports and economic growth in less developed countries

This article examines the contribution of agricultural exports to economic growth in less developed countries (LDCs). A sources‐of‐growth equation is developed from a dual economy model where agricultural and nonagricultural sectors are both divided into export and nonexport subsectors. This is then estimated using panel data for 62 LDCs for 1974–1995. Results provide evidence that there are significant structural differences in economic growth between low, lower‐middle, and upper‐income LDCs. Investment in the agricultural export subsector has a statistically identical impact on economic growth as investment in the nonagricultural export subsector. The marginal productivities in nonexport subsectors are over 30% lower than those in respective export subsectors. From a policy perspective, the results suggest that export‐promotion policies should be balanced.     

Food safety issues and fresh food product exports from LDCs

Fresh food products have a high income elasticity of demand and few traditional trade barriers in high income markets. As such, they represent an important opportunity for less developed country (LDC) exporters. Fresh food product exports account for half of all food and agricultural exports from LDCs to high income countries. But these products may be subject to greater food safety risks and potential trade barriers arising from sanitary regulation. This paper reviews the challenges and issues facing LDCs in meeting food safety standards for export. These issues include: (a) the importance of fresh food product trade by region and the kinds of issues that arise from those products; (b) the role of farm to table approaches and hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) in ensuring safety; (c) the role of the public sector in LDCs in facilitating trade; (d) the potential role of the SPS Agreement in resolving disputes and determining equivalency of standards between high and low income countries.     

Global and local food value chains in Africa: A review

The rapid expansion of agrifood exports from low- and middle-income countries and the contribution of global value chains to rural development are well-documented in the literature. Also, studies on modernization of domestic food value chains in these countries are emerging. Yet, the linkages between global and local value chains are rarely studied. On the one hand, the development and expansion of global value chains may create competition with local value chains for land, labor, water, soil nutrients, and other resources. On the other hand, positive spillover effects, such as investment, technical or institutional spillovers, may occur and spur the development of local value chains. In this article, we put forward a conceptual discussion on the type of linkages between global and local value chains, and how these depend on crop and value chain characteristics. We review the empirical evidence on these linkages. Our focus is on Africa, where agrifood exports and global value chains evolved rapidly and where challenges remain to upgrade and increase efficiency in local food value chains.     

Relationship between agricultural growth and farm imports in LDCs: a Sims' causality test based on 35 countries

Previous empirical studies on the relationship between agricultural growth and farm imports in the LDCs suffer from serious methodological defects, which to some extent may invalidate their results and interpretations. This study used Sims' causality test to examine interactions between agricultural output and agricultural imports for 35 LDCs individually. It was found that there was no causality from agricultural output to agricultural imports for a majority of countries under study. For countries where agricultural growth did have a causal effect on agricultural imports, the effect was positive in some countries and negative in others.     

Armington Elasticities and Tariff Regime: An Application to European Union Rice Imports

The European Union’s (EU) import sources for rice include developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs). The EU has made a commitment to allow duty‐free and quota‐free access to rice imports originating in the LDCs from September 2009 onward. The purpose of this article is to answer two questions: (1) does the inclusion of import tariffs lead to different estimated Armington elasticities? (2) when a discriminating tariff is introduced, what happens to the market share of large rice exporters to the EU, especially of poor countries? We present the Armington model, derived from a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) utility function, and a non‐homothetic CES utility functional form, which is more flexible. We then estimate the Armington model, with and without the inclusion of a tariff, and we compare the elasticities. Lastly, we model five scenarios with different discriminated import tariff rates to calculate the changes in the market access of large rice exporters to the EU. Our empirical results show the importance of non‐homothetic preferences and import tariffs. Ignoring import tariffs and the non‐homothetic parameter may produce results which are biased and of uncertain validity. Furthermore, the simulation findings demonstrate that, in spite of a large difference between import tariff rate of Suriname and other countries (scenario V), its market access would not change greatly. This may be caused by supply side problems like poor infrastructures, weak technology and small capacity production in LDCs.     

Commodity Studies and Commodity Fetishism I: Trading Down

This first instalment of a two-part review essay on current work in commodity studies considers, at some length, an important and distinctive text by Peter Gibbon and Stefano Ponte. It draws on a unique set of case studies of African export commodities, using (and developing) the framework of Global Value Chain (GVC) theory, of American provenance, together with elements of the mostly French literature on quality conventions. Gibbon and Ponte also seek to incorporate key mechanisms of globalization and international trade, and their forms of regulation, and to evaluate the effects of the book's analysis and argument for prospects of improving the performance of African agricultural exports in particular. Here we provide a detailed exposition, discussion, and assessment of the book. We conclude that, for all its intellectual virtues, there are some central tensions in its argument that reflect the lacunae and limitations of the kind of economic sociology the authors employ – which, contentiously, they designate as 'historical political economy'.     

Market-oriented reforms,globalization and the recent transformation of Latin American innovation systems

Market-oriented structural reforms were implemented in Latin America under the expectation that the transition from an "inward-oriented", "state-led" growth strategy to one which was more "market-led" and "outward-oriented" was going to be rewarded by a sustainable long-term improvement in the region's rate of economic expansion and productivity growth. The competitive discipline imposed by a more open and deregulated economic regime was expected to induce faster innovation and technological modernization efforts from firms and individuals and, thereafter, a gradual but steady "convergence" to world-wide income and productivity standards. A global look at the region's performance throughout the 1980s and 1990s tells us that such a priori expectation was far from realistic. The paper examines why this has been so.     

The Moral Setting for Governance in Keonjhar: The Cultural Framing of Public Episodes and Development Processes in Northern Orissa,India

A discussion of the theory of technology and economic growth suggests potentially negative implications for the impact of the Internet on developing countries. Technology in general is undoubtedly central to the growth process, but economists define technology in very broad terms. The impact of any particular, invented, technology is likely to be small. This theoretical perspective is supported by the empirical evidence on the limited impact of past "information revolutions" on less-developed countries (LDCs) and the present impact of the Internet on advanced economies. Furthermore, LDCs appear ill-prepared to benefit from the opportunities that the Internet does present--they lack the physical and human capital, along with the institutions required, to exploit the e-economy. Finally, even optimistic forecasts of the Internet's global economic impact are small in scale compared with the challenge of development. This has significant implications for development policy.     

An Indigenous Innovation: An Example from Mobile Communication Technology

This paper explores the processes of indigenous (global South) innovation, particularly of the “high-tech” and “radical” kind, which have spurred technological catch-up, using the example of a third-generation (3G) Chinese mobile communications technology standard. Three hypotheses were generated from this study: (a) modularity-in-design opens new windows of opportunity for technological catching-up; (b) the lack of essential intellectual property rights acts as a key inducement, or a factor-saving bias, that influences the rate and direction of indigenous innovation in the global South; and (c) the long tail of an old technology affects the take-off of a new indigenous innovation, essentially by shortening the technological distance to be covered.     

Trade and agroindustrialization in developing countries: trends and policy impacts

There have been important changes in the international trade of processed and high-value added food products from developing countries over the past several decades. One of them has been the emergence of oilseeds and fruits and vegetables, replacing traditional products such as sugar, coffee, and cocoa as the main exports from developing countries. Another trend has been the collapse of African agroindustrial exports and the increase of exports from Asia. The paper highlights key trends, and explores possible reasons for the trends, focusing on trade policies in less-developed countries (LDCs) and developed countries (DCs). The paper argues that national trade policies and other economic policies appear to have been relatively supportive of agroindustrial production and exports in Asia. In contrast, policies have had more mixed effects in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and seem to have been just one component in a larger array of forces inhibiting economic development in Africa. The performance of agroindustrial production and exports from LDCs may be now more dependent than ever on the completion of reforms in the agricultural trade policies of DCs. For Africa, however, a more supportive international environment and better macroeconomic and trade policies will not be enough to ensure a thriving agroindustrial sector within a broader process of economic development until military confrontations stop.     

Internationalization of innovative capabilities: counter‐evidence from the electronics industry in Malaysia and Brazil

The focus of this paper is the extent to which firms in the electronics industry in Malaysia and Brazil (Manaus) developed significant innovative technological capabilities. By examining whether innovative capabilities have spread to these two late‐industrializing countries, the paper seeks to add new evidence to the debate over internationalization of innovative capabilities and to argue against existing generalizations. Internationalization of innovative capabilities is measured here by the technological capability types and levels built within firms. The framework for capability‐building identifies types and levels of technological capabilities. The paper draws on empirical evidence from 82 electronics firms—transnational corporation subsidiaries and local firms: 53 in Malaysia (25 in Penang and 28 in Klang Valley) and 29 in Manaus (Northern Brazil). Empirical evidence was collected during extensive fieldwork based on different data‐gathering strategies. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods were used. Contrary to common generalizations, the study found that the capabilities of most sampled firms had been upgraded to carry out diverse innovative technological activities. Additionally, these capability‐building efforts were strongly associated with higher capabilities for local decision‐making and control, automation level and efforts to increase exports. The study found firms that innovated to be competitive by reducing costs, being more productive, reducing lead time and producing better products—regardless of whether they were in a domestic market‐oriented country or in an export‐oriented country. Finally, the analysis and framework in this study challenge some existing perspectives on the internationalization of innovative capabilities to the late‐industrializing context.     

Terms of trade effects on endogenous growth rates in LDCs

Abstract

This paper presents a model in which long‐term GDP growth rates of LDCs are dependent upon world price levels. The model combines an endogenous growth framework a la Romer (1986, Journal of Political Economy, 94, pp. 1002–1037) with traditional Heckscher‐Ohlin‐Samuelson international trade, while assuming investment in capital to be financed solely by domestic savings. This relatively strong assumption is justified by the empirical observation that for most LDCs foreign investment constitutes only a very small part of gross capital formation. We find that an increase in the price of capital‐intensive goods will raise the long‐term growth rate. In other words, in this model protection of the capital‐intensive goods sector will cause higher economic growth.     

Innovation in Agro-Foods: A Comparative Analysis of Value Chains

ABSTRACT

The innovative activity of firms has been linked to the introduction of a new product or process associated with the development or application of new technological knowledge. New products generally contain innovative techniques that increase the quality of goods. New processes are based on the use of new technologies to increase the efficiency of production. However, the exclusive link between technology and innovation has been criticized for various reasons. It provides a restrictive vision considering innovation as part of the manufacturing and services sectors. Innovation in firms affects not only the development and application of new technologies but also the adoption and the reorganization of business processes, internal organization, external relations, and marketing. The literature in the field of management emphasizes the importance of integrating product, process, and organization to translate new ideas into market success. Thus, to obtain a complete picture of the innovative efforts of firms in the agro-food industry, the concept of innovation has been extended to both technological and nontechnological innovations. This analysis provided evidence of innovations used by agro-food firms. It also identified latent demand for future innovation.     

A systematic framework of location value taxes reveals dismal policy design in most European countries

Location values have long been recognized as an attractive instrument to raise municipal revenues. First, they increase fiscal efficiency and equability compared to traditional property taxes. Second, they can be used to enhance sustainable urban planning. The question of how to design a location value tax has long been discussed in various strands of literature, but there are few efforts to create multidisciplinary approaches. This lack of reconciliation hampers the discussion on optimal designs that includes all economic, social and environmental considerations. Here we combine literature on public finances, urban economics and value capture with that of sustainable urban planning to narrow this gap. We develop a framework to assess the design characteristics of location value taxes from a sustainability perspective, and apply this framework to assess current practices in Europe. The analysis reveals severe shortcoming in policy design in most European countries, although Denmark provides a more promising example. Nonetheless, location value taxes have a high potential for improving sustainable urban planning.     

Does Agricultural Growth in Poor Countries Harm Agricultural-Exporting Rich Countries?

The commonly held view that agricultural-exporting developed countries would lose from agricultural growth in less-developed countries (LDCs) is shown to be based on an incomplete argument. It considers only the effects on LDC agricultural supply, or at best only that and the first-round effects of increased farmer incomes on the demand for tradables. What also needs to be considered is the effect on the demand for nontradables and hence the second-round effects of increased spending by producers of nontradables. When all these effects are considered, the positive correlations obtained between agricultural output growth in LDCs and agricultural imports from developed countries is not surprising. It is then shown that selling or giving away agricultural research and management skills to developing countries can be beneficial to developed countries, including agricultural exporters: by setting out to do good, they may end up also doing well.     

“十一五”期间渔业行业科技工作总结与展望

渔业行业科技创新和重大、关键技术的突破,为我国渔业持续、健康发展发挥了重要的作用。本文结合渔业领域现代农业产业技术体系建设专项、公益性(农业)行业科研专项开展情况,回顾了,"十一五"渔业行业科技立项基本情况,总结了取得的成绩,指出了存在的问题,并对今后我国渔业行业科技工作进行了展望,提出了继续加强行业科技投入力度、强化行业科技项目的组织实施、加大成果培育力度等建议。     

Complementarity between In-house R&D and Technology Purchasing: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms

In order to catch up with the current technological frontier, firms, especially in developing countries, try to acquire technological advancement through internal R&D efforts, as well as through external technology-sourcing activities. This study tests whether these two sources of technology acquisition are complements or substitutes for each other in small- and medium-sized Chinese manufacturing firms. The evidence that we present shows some signs of complementarity between the two sources of knowledge in reaching a higher unconditional intensity of product innovation for firms with 100–300 employees and, in general, a significant degree of substitutability between them in achieving higher levels of labour productivity.     

Modelling and Mapping Agricultural Output Values Using Farm Specific Details and Environmental Databases

Ongoing concerns regarding the economic losses associated with the CAP and the negative environmental impacts of present land use have led to calls for land use change and consequent efforts to identify areas which are, from both a financial and social perspective, most appropriate for such conversion. This paper develops and applies an output value modelling methodology in which site-specific biophysical factors are combined with farm level data in order to predict input usage and, subsequently, farm profit. The spatial analytic capabilities of a geographical information system (GIS) are used to combine the variety of data employed to permit analysis of a large study area (the entirety of Wales) and yield models of both the market and shadow value of output from the two principal agricultural sectors of the area: dairying and sheep farming. The GIS is then used to produce readily interpretable maps of these values across the study area. The resulting maps are highly compatible both with value maps of alternative land uses given in the recent literature and with approaches to policy formulation currently under development by a range of UK agencies. Such maps may be used to assist estimation of the extent and location of farming response to land use policy change.     

THE FUTURE OF EEC DAIRY EXPORTS TO THE LESS-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS OF LONG-RANGE PROJECTIONS AND MODEL STUDIES

From recent projection studies it can be concluded that future dairy exports by the EEC to the Less Developed Countries (LDCs) will increase. The self-sufficiency ratio for dairy products in the EEC will increase because of strong, technologically induced, growth of production potential. On the one hand, surplus production in the EEC will be difficult to curtail as the unfavourable conditions of the general economy will impede outmigration of inputs. Import demand, on the other hand, is projected to increase as many populations will be moving into stages of higher growth of income. Thus, input restrictions of agriculture in industrialised countries may be unnecessary. In this paper some agricultural economic aspects of the implied trade relationships are discussed. It is concluded that LDCs are not likely to benefit from gains of trade as predicted by theory of free trade and international specialisation. From projections by model studies, however, no consensus emerged. Projection and model studies seem hardly suited to provide insight in the effects of international trade under conditions of imperfect competition.