Technology Transfer through Imports

Ram C. Acharya, Wolfgang Keller

NBER Working Paper No. 13086
Issued in May 2007
NBER Program(s):Economic Fluctuations and Growth, International Trade and Investment, Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

While there is general agreement that technology differences must figure prominently in any successful account of the cross-country income variation, not much is known on the source of these technology differences. This paper examines cross-country income differences in terms of factor accumulation, domestic R&D, and foreign technological spillovers. The empirical analysis encompasses seventeen industrialized countries in four continents over three decades, at a level disaggregated enough to identify innovations in a number of key high-tech sectors. International technology transfer is found to play a crucial part in accounting for income differences. We also relate technology transfer to imports, showing that imports are often a major channel. At the same time, our analysis highlights that international technology transfer varies importantly across industries and countries.

Acknowledgments

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w13086

Published: Ram C. Acharya & Wolfgang Keller, 2009. "Technology transfer through imports," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1411-1448, November. citation courtesy of

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