The literature on technological change and growth has mainly used econometric models to establish that factors such as the degree of openness, skills, research and development expenditures, number of patents etc. are critical determinants of innovation and its effect on growth. However, this approach fails to explain the role of institutions and policies that created the environment for innovation. Using 10 case studies from developing countries, this book examines how governments fostered technological adaptation through public-private partnerships to develop world-class exporters in high-growth, non-traditional industries.

This book analyses the relationships between technological advancement and innovation, and trade performance. It concentrates, in particular, on the contribution of research and development expenditures, and skilled labour, to exports. It examines what determines expenditure on R & D, and whether there is a chain of causation from exports to R & D. The book reviews and develops the existing literature both on the relationship between technology, skill and trade flows, and on the determinants of research and development. It also looks at relative technological competitiveness and export performance in the USA, Japan, West Germany, the UK and France. It examines empirical evidence for the theories analysed on the basis of cross-section studies of UK manufactured exports, imports, and net trade; of changes in the trade variables, and of R & D spending. A comparative study of the UK and West Germany is also provided.

Only since the 1970s have the East European Socialist countries (known collectively as Comecon) participated in the international exchange of technology as exporters. In this book, Drs. Monkiewicz and Maciejewicz analyze the technology export performance of the Comecon countries. They begin by defining the nature of technology as a commodity, analyzing the structural characteristics of the international market, and outlining both the cost and benefits of technology export. Later chapters provide an overview of Comecon technological policies in the 1970s, with particular attention to the export-import factor and Comecon regional technological cooperation. In-depth analysis is presented through case studies of the experiences of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The book concludes with a discussion of the implications of technology export by socialist countries, particularly its potential impact on existing global patterns of technological dependence and domination.

January 1995 A developing country's economic growth rate increases as foreign technology imports increase. In developing countries, increases in productivity depend not on innovation but on importing foreign plants and equipment and on borrowing foreign technology. Zhang and Zou investigate the relationship between foreign technology imports and economic growth in developing countries. They develop an intertemporal endogenous growth model that explicitly accepts foreign technology imports as a factor of production. The model establishes a link between the growth rate of productivity in a developing country and the country's intensity of learning to use foreign technologies. They hypothesize that a developing country's economic growth rate increases as foreign technology imports increase. They run regressions with data for about 50 developing countries, using different econometric methods and time spans. These empirical tests confirm the hypothesis that foreign technology transfers boost income growth rates. Moreover, economic developing in developing countries differs from that in industrial countries. In developing countries, increases in productivity depend not on innovation but on importing foreign plants and equipment and on borrowing foreign technology. This paper -- a product of the Public Economics Division, Policy Research Department -- is part of a larger effort in the department to understand economic growth and foreign trade. Heng-fu Zou may be contacted at [email protected].

This is a broad-ranging study of U.S. strategic export control policy. In particular, this book analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of export controls in delaying the acquisition of militarily sensitive high technology by the Soviet Union and its allied states. Furthermore, the question of whether or not U.S. economic competitiveness in various high-technology sectors has been unduly undermined by export controls is also evaluated. Numerous official government studies and reports, supplemented by a host of interviews with government officials, businesspeople, and analysts in the United States and Europe are utilized in drawing conclusions and posting policy recommendations. The consequences for export control policy of the revolutionary political upheavals in Eastern Europe and the former U.S.S.R. are also addressed. The study concludes that the strategic/security goal of utilizing controls to hinder and delay the acquisition of militarily significant high technology by the former Soviet Union and its allied states was generally effective. More controversially McDaniel argues that export controls per se have not been a significant determinant of lagging U.S. competitiveness in high technology. However, this conclusion is qualified by the observation that while overall trends in U.S. high-technology exports to important trading partners do not suggest that controls by themselves have unduly hurt U.S. exporters, individual sectors and small firms may be disadvantaged. Finally, the study cautions that U.S. policy must adapt or risk becoming outmoded and increasingly ineffective. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of international relations, international political economy, and international business.