The International Trade Policy For Technology Transfers

This book provides a robust guideline to both policymakers and researchers wishing to identify and categorize the factors that influence the process of technology flows across national boundaries, as well as the economic theories and legal arguments that may support a given position in international forums. In particular, the work discusses how certain negotiation strategies may optimally deal with such barriers and lead to more effective institutional arrangements in the current global geography of technological development.

Abstract: May 2000 - How much a developing country can take advantage of technology transfer from foreign direct investment depends partly on how well educated and well trained its workforce is, how much it is willing to invest in research and development, and how much protection it offers for intellectual property rights. Saggi surveys the literature on trade and foreign direct investment - especially wholly owned subsidiaries of multinational firms and international joint ventures - as channels for technology transfer. He also discusses licensing and other arm's-length channels of technology transfer. He concludes: How trade encourages growth depends on whether knowledge spillover is national or international. Spillover is more likely to be national for developing countries than for industrial countries; Local policy often makes pure foreign direct investment infeasible, so foreign firms choose licensing or joint ventures. The jury is still out on whether licensing or joint ventures lead to more learning by local firms; Policies designed to attract foreign direct investment are proliferating. Several plant-level studies have failed to find positive spillover from foreign direct investment to firms competing directly with subsidiaries of multinationals. (However, these studies treat foreign direct investment as exogenous and assume spillover to be horizontal - when it may be vertical.) All such studies do find the subsidiaries of multinationals to be more productive than domestic firms, so foreign direct investment does result in host countries using resources more effectively; Absorptive capacity in the host country is essential for getting significant benefits from foreign direct investment. Without adequate human capital or investments in research and development, spillover fails to materialize; A country's policy on protection of intellectual property rights affects the type of industry it attracts. Firms for which such rights are crucial (such as pharmaceutical firms) are unlikely to invest directly in countries where such protections are weak, or will not invest in manufacturing and research and development activities. Policy on intellectual property rights also influences whether technology transfer comes through licensing, joint ventures, or the establishment of wholly owned subsidiaries. This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study microfoundations of international technology diffusion. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Microfoundations of International Technology Diffusion. The author may be contacted at ksaggi@mail.smu.edu.

This important collection examines the means by which technological knowledge is transferred from countries that develop it to those who need it. Written by well-known authorities and derived from a conference held at the University of California and sponsored by IBEAR (International Business Education Research Program), the contributions focus on the transfer of technology from Western countries to Asian countries.

Monograph on technology transfer and USA foreign policy interests - contains four case studies of role of USA technology transfer to developed countries and developing countries, dealing with aluminium and bauxite, a truck factory, energy research and development and agricultural machinery, and presents proposals for further research. References and statistical tables.

The importance of international technology diffusion (ITD) for economic development can hardly be overstated. Both the acquisition of technology and its diffusion foster productivity growth. Developing countries have long sought to use both national policies and international agreements to stimulate ITD. The 'correct' policy intervention, if any, depends critically upon the channels through which technology diffuses internationally and the quantitative effects of the various diffusion processes on efficiency and productivity growth. Neither is well understood. New technologies may be embodied in goods and transferred through imports of new varieties of differentiated products or capital goods and equipment, they may be obtained through exposure to foreign buyers or foreign investors or they may be acquired through arms-length trade in intellectual property, e.g., licensing contracts. 'Global Integration and Technology Transfer' uses cross-country and firm level panel data sets to analyze how specific activities exporting, importing, FDI, joint ventures impact on productivity performance.

The deterioration of detente in the wake of the ongoing Soviet arms build-up has sharply focused the East-West trade debate on the question of advanced technology transfer from the United States and its allies to the Soviet bloc. The transfer and acquisition of high technology have become central ingredients in super-power relations and are key elements of any national security policy. President Reagan, among others, has questioned the wisdom of the policies of the 1960s and early 1970s, when trade with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe expanded rapidly. At recent industrial nation summits, conferees of Western countries agreed to high-level review of their East-West technology trade policies. But in light of the apparent West European commitment to continue and expand trade with the East, as exemplified by the Siberian gas pipeline project, and the growing U.S. opposition to such technology transfer, divisions between U.S. and Western trade policies toward the East are likely to become increasingly acute in the years ahead. Professors Bertsch and McIntyre have selected comprehensive and representative articles to examine the question of technology transfer from a variety of perspectives--political, economic, and military- emphasizing both the U.S. and the Western allies' points of view and offering insights into the complex issues raised by the strategic dimensions of East-West trade.

Bridging the technology gap is an issue faced by most countries, but in developing countries the issue is doubly critical. Not only do they lag further behind relative to other countries but they also face more stringent resource constraints. This title provides a through overview of the economics of ITT relevant to developing countries and will be invaluable as a reference tool for policy makers, trade officials and trade negotiators.Part One identifies the role played by existing policy in trade, foreign direct investment and intellectual property rights in facilitating International Technology Transfer (ITT). Pertinent analysis of the major implications of the report is given.The WTO Working Group on Trade and Technology Transfer was established with the aim of encouraging technology transfer to developing countries. Part Two outlines the Group's findings for increasing flows of technology.