Contagion effects of national innovative capacity: Comparing structural equivalence and cohesion models

The effective promotion of national innovation performance is a crucial component of national innovation policy. This study examines network contagion effects of national innovative capacity via the international diffusion of embodied and disembodied technology by two different social network models: the cohesion model, based on diffusion by direct communication, and the structural equivalence model, based on diffusion by network position similarity. This investigation then utilizes data of 42 countries during 1997 to 2002 to empirically examine their network relationship. The analytical results demonstrate that international technology diffusion influences national innovation performance through contagion effects, but that the international similarity of national innovative capacity performance is more accurately predicted by network position than by interactions with others; and this study result provides a new perspective for science and technology policy makers.     

International spillovers of R&D and marginal social returns

This study analyzes marginal social and private returns of R&D investment through the impact of international spillovers of R&D stocks. We compare the marginal social with marginal private returns using data of 27 OECD and EU countries from 1995 to 2008. We consider two channels of R&D spillovers: embodied in trade flows and disembodied by bilateral technological proximity. We find that marginal social returns on R&D are much larger than the marginal private returns for R&D‐intensive countries, in the embodied spillover channel. We also find that the embodied spillover channel through import flows is more important than the disembodied channel.     

The effectiveness of international knowledge spillover channels

Using panel data from 16 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries for the period 1981–2000, we examine the significance of international knowledge spillovers through inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI), intermediate goods imports, and a disembodied direct channel. Knowledge spillovers through the disembodied direct channel are approximated by using a measure of technological proximity and patent citations between countries. Using estimation models that reflect recent developments in non-stationary panel data econometrics, we show that international knowledge spillovers through inward FDI and the disembodied direct channel are significant and robust. In contrast, outward FDI and imports of intermediate goods are not conducive to international knowledge spillovers.     

On the mechanism of international technology diffusion for energy technological progress

As a needed methodological complement to the existing large-scale complex policy modelling for energy technology diffusion, this paper contributes to an analytical exposition of the fundamental mechanism of international technology diffusion (ITD) for energy technological progress. We offer two different and complementary perspectives to explore the dynamics of energy technology diffusion and progress. We first develop a Solow-type efficiency-improving model of energy technological progress which is described by improvements in primary energy-augmenting efficiency. We further provide a Romer-type variety-expanding model of energy technological progress which is represented by the expansion of differentiated varieties of primary energy technology blueprints. Analysis based on two different models reaches consistent results: there are potential forces in the world economy – working through ITD – that pull individual countries to advance energy technology, ensuring a cross-country convergence in the growth rates of energy technology in the balanced growth path. While ITD plays a role in a cross-country convergence in technological growth rates, cross-country differences in the efficiency of undertaking indigenous research and the capacity of absorbing foreign technology spillovers would lead to a cross-country divergence in the absolute levels of energy technology.     

Mobility of knowledge and local innovation activity

This paper studies the diffusion of knowledge and its consequences for local innovation production. In a common framework, we analyze the geographic reach of different channels of knowledge flows that thus far have been studied separately in the literature. To jointly estimate these flows, we develop and apply novel econometric techniques appropriate to the nature of the data. We find that geographic along with technological proximity to be more essential to the operation of market than to non-market channels of knowledge flows. External accessible disembodied knowledge has a strong positive effect on local innovation production that is larger than that of embodied knowledge.     

国际技术扩散的度量、途径及阻碍:一个文献综述

全球大部分技术来源于少数发达国家,在经济全球化背景下,技术通过各种渠道在世界范围内的扩散,对各国的技术水平和经济发展产生了重要影响,国际技术扩散日益成为经济增长理论关注的核心问题之一。本文从三个方面对国际技术扩散的文献进行了梳理和总结,包括技术扩散度量的方式、技术扩散的途径及影响技术扩散的因素。相关研究文献表明,在数量上更精准地度量国际技术扩散已经取得了重要进展;通过国际贸易实现的技术扩散能够提高几乎所有国家的生产效率,但是与FD I流入相联系的技术扩散溢出效应却在发达国家和发展中国家之间呈现出显著的差异;一国的地理距离、技术差距、要素禀赋以及政治制度等若干因素为理解这一现象提供了解释。     

国际垂直专业化对中国环境效率的影响

理论上,发达国家跨国公司主导下的国际垂直专业化通过工序配置和价值分配对发展中国家的环境技术进步及其技术效率产生负面影响,从而导致后者环境效率的恶化。本文基于我国省级和行业面板数据模型的检验表明,国际垂直专业化对中国环境技术进步和环境效率变化具有显著负作用。为提高环境效率,中国应改变在国际垂直专业化中被支配的地位,同时发达国家和国际组织应加强自身在环境技术扩散中的作用。     

Comparative international diffusion: Patterns,determinants and policies

Using data derived from a number of stand alone surveys in different countries, this paper explores international differences in the paths of diffusion of new manufacturing technologies. It is observed that diffusion paths are technology specific and that no one country either in Europe or North America can be said to exhibit faster, earlier or more extensive diffusion for all technologies than other countries. Using results in the public domain it is also argued that the main driving forces behind diffusion patterns are those generally classified as epidemic and rank effects. Building upon this, the rationale for policy intervention in the diffusion process is discussed and the effectiveness of different policy instruments considered.     

East Asia's growth: technology or accumulation?

Krugman, building on the work of Alwyn Young, has argued that hypergrowth in East Asia derives mostly from factor accumulation, owing little to technological change. Yet this explanation is at odds with what analysts of technological change have to say about technology acquisition in these countries. This article examines the Young-Krugman thesis and argues that the problem lies in the misconception of technological change as distinct from accumulation. The critique is taken further by means of a review of the multifaceted way that technology raises the productivity of labor. It is argued that technology is carried not as disembodied knowledge, but as techniques hard-coded in physical devices and structures, by patterns soft-coded in human and organizational capabilities and business-friendly institutions, formal and informal. These operate as symbiotic complements, not separable substitutes as assumed in conventional theory. These arguments are supplemented by perspectives introduced from the technology literature. Since the respective roles and relationship between accumulation and technology are scrutinized, the analysis provides important policy conclusions on the value of East Asian growth strategies.     

INNOVATION AND INEQUALITY IN A SMALL WORLD

We present a multicountry theory of economic growth and R&D-driven technological progress in which countries are connected by a network of knowledge exchange. Technological progress in any country depends on the state of technology in the countries it exchanges knowledge with. The diffusion of knowledge throughout the world explains a period of increasing world inequality, followed by decreasing relative inequality. Knowledge diffusion through a small world network produces an extraordinary diversity of country growth performances, including the overtaking of individual countries and the replacement of the technologically leading country in the course of world development.     

Research on effectiveness of technology transfer in technology alliances: evidence from Turkish SMEs

Many SMEs homed in newly industrialised countries are successful international players despite limited technological infrastructure and R&D resources. This study bridges a gap in the extant literature by examining the relationships between characteristics of partnership relationships, knowledge sharing and the effectiveness of technology transfer in partnerships between SMEs in developing countries and firms from developed countries. By studying data from Turkish SMEs and using partial least squares structural equation modelling, we find that explicit knowledge sharing forms the basis of technology transfer. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that explicit knowledge sharing is strongly contingent upon formalised technical support while trust and technical support seemed to be important antecedents of tacit knowledge sharing.     

THE IMPACT OF TFP GROWTH ON STEADY‐STATE UNEMPLOYMENT*

Theoretical predictions of the impact of total factor productivity (TFP) growth on unemployment are ambiguous, and depend on the extent to which new technology is embodied in new jobs. We evaluate a model with embodied and disembodied technology, capitalization, and creative destruction effects. In econometric estimates with a panel of industrial countries we find a large negative impact of TFP growth on unemployment, which implies that embodied technology and creative destruction play no role in the steady‐state dynamics of unemployment. Capitalization effects explain some of the estimated impact but a part remains unexplained.     

The impacts of export competition on international technology flows

Knowledge flow is a key to building technological capabilities. This article investigates how competition in international trade affects knowledge flow between countries using patent data and trade data for analysis. The main finding is that export competition in the third market (in our study, the US market) seems to have a positive impact on the flow of knowledge. The findings from this study contribute to the debate on ‘learning-by-exporting’.     

Technology import,secondary innovation,and industrial structure optimization: A potential innovation strategy for China

To enhance people’s lives, China needs to maximize the opportunities of technological changes and conduct innovations to optimize its industrial structure in the context of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. The present paper analyses how industrial structure can be optimized by considering technology imports and innovations, and proposes an innovation strategy for China. We decompose imported technology into embodied technology imports (ETI) and disembodied technology imports (DTI). We found that ETI and DTI have negative effects on industrial structure rationalization and supererogation. Moreover, secondary innovations based on ETI depress industrial rationalization and supererogation, while secondary innovations based on DTI contribute positively. Therefore, DTI should be valued and the absorption of introduced technology improved. It is important to choose the appropriate mode of technology imports, to coordinate on the ratio of technology imports to secondary innovations, and to enhance the absorption of imported technology with the gradual improvement of IPR protection.     

国际技术势差、对外直接投资逆向技术溢出与本土企业技术进步

全球经济大变局背景下,中国“走出去”企业的全球优化布局对逆向技术溢出效应有效发挥至关重要。基于技术势差视角构建“走出去”企业与当地企业间的技术扩散吸收模型,探究OFDI逆向技术溢出的发生机理,并以2005—2019年78个经济体为样本,对理论命题进行验证。结果发现,中国OFDI能够对本土企业技术进步产生逆向技术溢出效应,但存在时滞性和阈值效应：当国际技术势差过大时,“走出去”企业难以通过技术扩散获取新技术,无法实现对国内企业的技术反哺;只有当中国与东道国的TFP比值处于合理区间时,才存在显著逆向技术溢出效应。此外,加快技术积累和其它渠道的国际技术溢出也是推动本土企业技术进步的重要途径。     

What Drives the International Transfer of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies? Empirical Evidence from Patent Data

Technology transfer plays a key role in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, we characterize the factors that promote or hinder the international diffusion of climate-friendly technologies using detailed patent data from 96 countries for the period 1995–2007. The data provide strong evidence that lax Intellectual Property regimes have a strong and negative impact on the international diffusion of patented knowledge. Restrictions on international trade and foreign direct investment also hinder the diffusion of climate-friendly technologies. Surprisingly, local technological capabilities tend to discourage transfers. While broad indicators of technology capabilities are expected to facilitate transfers, this latter result stems from our technology-specific definition of local capabilities, which makes it possible to capture a substitution effect between local and foreign inventions.     

Embodied technological change in supplier dominated firms

This paper identifies the role of new capital goods as the main external source of innovation for supplier dominated firms belonging to traditional consumer good industries. After a brief survey on the role of inter-industry technology flows, the results of a field study are presented concerning the amount of technological change embodied in the new machinery acquired during the 1980s by a sample of Italian manufacturing firms producing traditional consumer goods. We show that industries and firms differ in the quality of technological change embodied in (or allowed by) new capital goods, and that such differences depend on industry-specific and firm-specific factors. The former primarily refer to product characteristics, the latter mainly to the age and the affiliation of the firm with an industrial group. The final section contains some policy suggestions for fostering the diffusion of new machinery (embodying technological change) among small firms and traditional industries.     

International,intra-national and inter-firm knowledge diffusion and technological catch-up: the USA,Japan, Korea and Taiwan in the memory chip industry

Using data on US patent citations, this paper investigates the pattern of international, intranational and interfirm knowledge diffusion in the process of technological catch-up by Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese firms in the memory chip industry. First, regarding international diffusion, this paper finds that the ordering of citations is exactly the same as the order of entry into the industry: Taiwanese firms tend to cite Korean firms, Korean firms tend to cite Japanese firms and Japanese firms tend to cite US firms. Second, the degree of intranational knowledge diffusion is proportional to the level of technological capability or order of entry, although it is also affected by organisational differences among the firms. Third, the difference in patterns of interfirm knowledge reflects difference across organisations, such that big Korean group firms are less oriented toward interfirm knowledge diffusion compared with their Taiwanese small and medium enterprise (SME) counterparts. To explain such difference, the role of government research institutions has been highlighted, especially since the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) accounts for the lion's share of Taiwanese-held patents and in the spin-offs of many firms in the industry.     

Technological catch-up: Gradual diffusion of technology and convergence in the neoclassical growth model

In this paper, I study the effects of the international gradual transmission of technology on the convergence processes among countries. In this way, the international gradual diffusion of technology makes possible a greater potential improvement capacity to the less developed country in its technological level. When this hypothesis is included in the Solow-Swan growth models, the paper shows that the convergence hypothesis will now be maintained only in the growth rates since a gap in income levels will remain in the long run. That conditional convergence will be explained by two factors: the diminishing returns for cumulative factor and the gradual diffusion of technology. I will finish this paper with empirical evidence of these two factors explaining convergence.     

The impact of technical change on the aggregate production function

This study endeavours to look at both disembodied technical progress and embodied technical progress in the capital stock and in the labour force in the United States over the period 1947–80. The results suggest that disembodied technical progress has been about 3% per year, embodied technical progress in the capital stock is approximately 3–4% per year and educational attainment significantly enhances labour productivity. Finally, when the issue of structural stability of the underlying production relationship is addressed, the period 1971–80 gives rise to some inconsistency.