Catching Up to the Technology Frontier: The Dichotomy between Innovation and Imitation
نویسندگان
چکیده
This research examines whether technology transfer, research intensity, educational attainment and the ability to absorb foreign technology help explain cross-country differences in productivity growth. Our data comprise a panel of 55 countries including 23 OECD and 32 developing economies over the period 1970-2004. The results show that TFP growth in both OECD and developing countries is positively affected by research intensity, distance to the frontier, research intensity-based absorptive capacity and educational attainment-based absorptive capacity. However, they reveal large differences between developed and developing countries. JEL Classifications: O30; O40
منابع مشابه
Innovation Capacity in the SEE Region
A majority of the countries of SEE are so-called ‘catching-up’ economies. 1 This basically means that their enterprises operate largely behind the technological frontier, by using the best available foreign technologies and by competing on the basis of production capability. However, catching up is not a process of mere imitation; it requires adaptation and innovation (Fagerberg and...
متن کاملCatching-up with the “locomotive”: a simple theory∗
This paper extends the standard neoclassical model by considering a technology sector through which an economy with limited human capital attempts to catch up with a given “locomotive” pushing exogenously technical progress. In periods of technological stagnation, economies close enough to the frontier may find it optimal to not catch up, which reinforces worldwide technological sclerosis. Unde...
متن کاملWhen Does Domestic Saving Matter for Economic Growth?1
Can a country grow faster by saving more? We address this question both theoretically and empirically. In our model, growth results from innovations that allow local sectors to catch up with the frontier technology. In relatively poor countries, catching up with the frontier requires the involvement of a foreign investor, who is familiar with the frontier technology, together with effort on the...
متن کاملVertical Integration and Distance to Frontier
We construct a model where the equilibrium organization of firms changes as an economy approaches the world technology frontier. In vertically integrated firms, owners (managers) have to spend time both on production and innovation activities, and this creates managerial overload, and discourages innovation. Outsourcing of some production activities mitigates the managerial overload, but create...
متن کاملThe Challenge of International Sanctions against Iranian Radio-Pharmaceutical Industry
Abstract: This paper is about Iranian health industry facing the challenges created by the comprehensive international sanctions. This paper aims to give a realistic account of the different positive and negative impacts of the factor of international collaboration (or rather, the lack thereof) on the dual aspects of "technological and non-technological" catching up process. The case study is r...
متن کامل