26,821 research outputs found
Technology trap and poverty trap in Sub-Saharan Africa
Since the industrial revolution, advances in science and technology have continuously accounted for most of the growth and wealth accumulation in leading industrialized economies. In recent years, the contribution of technological progress to growth and welfare improvement has increased even further, especially with the globalization process which has been characterized by exponential growth in exports of manufactured goods. This paper establishes the existence of a technology trap in Sub-Saharan Africa. It shows that the widening income and welfare gap between Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of world is largely accounted for by the technology trap responsible for the poverty trap. This result is supported by empirical evidence which suggests that if countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were using the same level of technology enjoyed by industrialized countries income levels in Sub-Saharan Africa would be significantly higher. The result is robust, even after controlling for institutional, macroeconomic instability and volatility factors. Consistent with standard one-sector neoclassical growth models, this suggests that uniform convergence to a worldwide technology frontier may lead to income convergence in the spherical space. Overcoming the technology trap in Sub-Saharan Africa may therefore be essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and evolving toward global convergence in the process of economic development.Technology Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Achieving Shared Growth,ICT Policy and Strategies,E-Business
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICIES, INDUSTRIAL REFORM AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS IN CHINA. CAN SOCIALIST PROPERTY RIGHTS BE COMPATIBLE WITH TECHNOLOGICAL CATCHING UP?
This paper analyses the quest for technological progress in China, a large, semi-industrialized, socialist developing country. In the introduction, it is argued that international income convergence is not an automatic product of market forces. Therefore, the path of technological progress in a less advanced country is dependent on its bsorptive capacity, which can be enhanced by the development of an effective national innovation system. The specific meaning attached to key terms such as technological progress, market-compatibility and âsocialismâ are also explained. Section II briefly illustrates the relative position of China in the international division of labour, as well as some basic economic and social indicators. Section III contends that the huge amount of FDI flowing to China is not per se a major source of technical progress, but important gains can be obtained t h r o u g h strategic bargaining with large transnational corporations from industrialized countries. Section IV sketches the main lines of evolution of Chinese technological culture since the inception of the reforms and provides basic data on Chinaâs R&D system. Section V analyses the new focus of innovation and research policies and describes the major science and technology programmes. Section VI shifts the analysis to the level of industrial enterprises, arguing that a kind of symbiosis exists among the two groups of public firms. Collective enterprises reali ze their comparative advantage specializing in simpler industrial activities and benefit from technological spillovers from state-owned enterprises, while the latter are undergoing a process of upgrading and rationalization in order to gain a strong position at the upper end of the technological spectrum. This section also presents and illustrates aggregate data on production and employment trends in Chinaâs industry and proposes a tentative estimate of the technical change component of labour productivity growth in state-owned enterprises, showing that it has been substantial and increased in the late 1990s. Section VII concludes that Chinaâs experience so far shows that a radical improvement in a socialist economyâs ability to achieve technical progress is not inconsistent with the reaffirmation, in a new and diversified form, of a fundamentally public framework of property relations.
Research trends in nanotechnology studies across geo-economic areas
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current temporal and spatial research trajectories in nanoscience and nanotechnology studies in order to display the worldwide patterns of research fields across main economic players. The results show the leadership of Europe and North America in nanotechnology research, although the role of China has been growing over time. Current nanotechnology studies have been growing in chemistry and medicine because of applications of nanomaterials mainly in Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology. Results also show a relative higher scientific performance in nanotechnology research production by South Korea in comparison with Japan and other geo-economic areas. This research can provide vital findings to support research and innovation policies aimed at improving the development of this technological system for modern patterns of economic growth.Nanoscience, Nanotechnology, Technological Trajectories, Research Trends, Data Mining, Comparative Innovation Systems, Technological System
21st century trade agreements: implications for long-run development policy
This repository item contains a single issue of The Pardee Papers, a series papers that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The Pardee Papers series features working papers by Pardee Center Fellows and other invited authors. Papers in this series explore current and future challenges by anticipating the pathways to human progress, human development, and human well-being. This series includes papers on a wide range of topics, with a special emphasis on interdisciplinary perspectives and a development orientation.This paper examines the extent to which the emerging world trading regime leaves nations the âpolicy spaceâ to deploy effective policy for long-run diversification and development and the extent to which there is a convergence of such policy space under global and regional trade regimes. We examine the economic theory of trade and long-run growth and underscore the fact that traditional theories lose luster in the presence of the need for long-run dynamic comparative advantages and when market failures are rife. We then review a âtoolboxâ of policies that have been deployed by developed and developing countries past and present to kick-start diversity and development with the hope of achieving longrun growth. Next, we examine the extent to which rules under the World Trade Organization (WTO), trade agreements between the European Union (EU) and developing countries, trade agreements between the United States (US) and developing countries, and those among developing countries (South-South, or S-S, agreements) allow for the use of such policies. We demonstrate that there is a great divergence among trade regimes over this question. While S-S agreements provide ample policy space for industrial development, the WTO and EU agreements largely represent the middle of the spectrum in terms of constraining policy space choices. On the far end, opposite S-S agreements, US agreements place considerably more constraints by binding parties both broadly and deeply in their trade commitments.
Rachel Denae Thrasher holds a masterâs degree in International Relations and a law degree, both from Boston University, and she is a Research Fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. Her recent research has focused on policy issues related to regional trade agreements, multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and on global forests governance.
Kevin P. Gallagher is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations and Research Fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, both at Boston University. He is also a fellow at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. He has written extensively on trade and global development.
Also see related publication The Future of the WTO, by Kevin Gallagher
Real Interest Parity: A Note on Asian Countries Using Panel Stationarity Tests
Existing panel data studies of real interest parity are either unable to identify which panel members are characterised by stationary real interest differentials, or are subject to size distortion resulting from the presence of structural breaks and cross-sectional dependencies. Using a panel stationarity testing procedure recently advocated by Hadri and Rao (2008) that allows for structural breaks and cross-sectional dependency, we are unable to reject the stationarity of Asian real interest rate differentials.Heterogeneous dynamic panels, real interest parity, mean reversion, panel, stationarity test
International Mobility of Highly-Qualified People in APEC
An important aspect of the global knowledge-based economy is the emergence of a new trend where certain groups of highly-qualified workers have become increasingly mobile internationally. Reaching the goal of being more innovative economy requires that the highly-qualified workforce is of sufficient quantity and quality to support the expansion of innovative activities by firms. Many industrialized countries compete strategically in attracting these workers. It is necessary that the economic policy discussion surrounding the international mobility of skilled labour must take into consideration the wide variety of ways the migration of labour affects the economy. Numerous drivers, policy and non-policy induced, are at work. Attention must now turn towards the links between these movements and the regulating institutions; the performance in the trade of goods and services, FDI, human capital formation and multinational enterprises location, and income convergence among countries. This paper focuses on four key issues: First, it examines the global trends in the international migratory flows of highly qualified persons (HQPs), focusing on APEC economies. Second, it discusses the fundamental non-policy drivers of the increased HQP flows in the new global economy. Third, it reviews the literature on the economic costs and benefits associated with cross-country movement of HQPs and the main factors conditioning these costs and benefits. Finally, it addresses the question of how policy in APEC economies has adjusted or should adjust to the increased international HQP mobility.International migration, Skilled workers, Labour mobility
National Innovation System in the Era of Liberalization: Implications for Science and Technology Policy for Developing Economies
The national system of innovations in the recent phase of globalization has undergone dramatic structural transformation. Innovations entails organizational as well as changes in the rules of the game. The history of economic development of the developing and newly industrializing economies shows that national systems of innovation have evolved keeping in view the most pressing requirements of the national economic development. The knowledge generation and transmission are the two essential characteristics of national innovation system that connects the users and producers of knowledge and also allows institutional arrangements to functions as a feedback system. The institutional arrangements are being altered substantially to allow capital to move freely across national borders on the one side and strict trade related intellectual property rights on the other. How these arrangements have affected the national system of innovation both in the developed and developing countries during the recent liberalisation phase of economic development? In this paper an attempt has been made to provide some plausible answers to this question. Input and output indicators have been used with a view to unravel the dramatic structural changes occurring both in the economic and innovation structure of the global economy. The internationalisation of R&D expenditure and its implications for revealed comparative advantage have been examined in order to understand the direction of change during the era of liberalisation. The suitable changes in the science and technology policy have been suggested to strengthen the national system of innovation for generating unique competitive advantage in the developing countries.National system of innovation; structural transformation; input and output measures of innovations; revealed competitive advantage; public policy; internationalisation of R&D; intellectual property rights
- âŠ