Leapfrogging Cycles in International Competition

Abstract

Technological leadership has shifted at various times from one country to another. We propose a mechanism that explains this perpetual cycle of technological leapfrogging in a two-country model including the dynamic optimization of an infinitely-lived consumer. In the model, each country accumulates knowledge stock over time because of domestic innovation and spillovers from foreign innovation. We show that if the international knowledge spillovers are reasonably efficient, technological leadership may shift first from one country to another, and then alternate between countries along an equilibrium path