Technology and International Trade

Technology plays an increasingly significant role in competitiveness in the global marketplace. This text consists of essays - theoretical as well as empirical - and studies the relationships between technology, growth, international competitiveness and employment. It aims to show that international competitiveness and market share are determined by R&D efforts and technological advantages relative to other producers, which applies to high-tech sectors and others as well. It goes on to provide some evidence for the importance of home market size for competitiveness and for the role of proximity and existing trade flows for stimulating dispersion of new knowledge. Theoretical issues discussed include the implications for growth of technical progress as a learning process and of the degree of openness of the economy. There is an examination of the role of multinationals as vehicles for technology diffusion, of monetary policy in a growth context and the efforts of technical progress on the demand for labour, skilled as well as unskilled. This work should be of interest to academics, particularly those in the fields of international trade, economic growth, industrial organization and technology.