Re-examining international technological-knowledge diffusion

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2007

Authors

Óscar Afonso (Author) FEP; Paulo José Abreu Beleza de Vasconcelos (Author) FEP

Journal

Title: International Economic Journal

Vol. 21 No. 2

Pages: 279-296

ISSN: 1016-8737

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Indexing

Scopus - 6 Citations

Econlit

Scientific classification

FOS: Social sciences > Economics and Business

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00T-QPS

DOI: 10.1080/10168730701345307

Resumo (PT): In the standard models of North-South technological-knowledge diffusion, the larger the initial technological-knowledge gap between countries, the greater the Southern catching up. However, this result does not adjust well to Southern reality as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the disparity between the theoretical outcome and the empirical findings can be reduced by considering that: (i) the South can only imitate Northern technological knowledge when it is sufficiently close to the Northern frontier; (ii) the advantage of the South's moderate backwardness, together with its imitation capacity, is a mechanism of catching up with the North; and (iii) the Southern catching-up specification can be country specific. In particular, we show that the behavior of the South's relative level of employed human capital affects Southern imitation capacity and depends on the catching-up specifications.

Abstract (EN): In the standard models of North-South technological-knowledge diffusion, the larger the initial technological-knowledge gap between countries, the greater the Southern catching up. However, this result does not adjust well to Southern reality as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the disparity between the theoretical outcome and the empirical findings can be reduced by considering that: (i) the South can only imitate Northern technological knowledge when it is sufficiently close to the Northern frontier; (ii) the advantage of the South's moderate backwardness, together with its imitation capacity, is a mechanism of catching up with the North; and (iii) the Southern catching-up specification can be country specific. In particular, we show that the behavior of the South's relative level of employed human capital affects Southern imitation capacity and depends on the catching-up specifications.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific