IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jincot/v21y2021i3d10.1007_s10842-021-00353-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technology Spillovers Through Exports: Empirical Evidence for the Chinese Case

Author

Listed:
  • João Gabriel Pio

    (Juiz de Fora Federal University)

  • Eduardo Gonçalves

    (Federal University of Juiz de Fora)

  • Claúdio R. F. Vasconcelos

    (Federal University of Juiz de Fora)

Abstract

International trade is one of the main channels of technological diffusion as it allows countries to have access to technology developed by others in the process of buying and selling intermediate inputs and capital goods. In the 1990s, China initiated a process of major incentives for the development of new technologies and this was intensified in the 2000s. The country is now a potential technology donor, which contributes to the global diffusion of technology. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of technological spillovers from China through international trade. The analysis considered 22 OECD member countries, including China, and 17 manufacturing industries for the 2008–2014 period. The results indicate that China is contributing to the process of technological diffusion with both negative and positive spillovers. Besides identifying the spillovers from China broken down according to industries, our results also indicate that domestic and foreign spillovers are important channels of technological diffusion.

Suggested Citation

  • João Gabriel Pio & Eduardo Gonçalves & Claúdio R. F. Vasconcelos, 2021. "Technology Spillovers Through Exports: Empirical Evidence for the Chinese Case," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 423-443, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jincot:v:21:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s10842-021-00353-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10842-021-00353-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10842-021-00353-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10842-021-00353-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Measuring the Returns to R&D," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1033-1082, Elsevier.
    2. Bruno Van Pottelsberghe De La Potterie & Frank Lichtenberg, 2001. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Transfer Technology Across Borders?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 490-497, August.
    3. Choe, Chongwoo, 1996. "Incentive to Work versus Disincentive to Invest: The Case of China's Rural Reform, 1979-1984," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 242-266, June.
    4. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    5. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    6. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Productivity and R&D at the Firm Level," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 100-133, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Paul Almeida & Bruce Kogut, 1999. "Localization of Knowledge and the Mobility of Engineers in Regional Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(7), pages 905-917, July.
    8. Jones, Charles I & Williams, John C, 2000. "Too Much of a Good Thing? The Economics of Investment in R&D," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 65-85, March.
    9. Gerald Silverberg & Giovanni Dosi & Luigi Orsenigo, 2000. "Innovation, Diversity and Diffusion: A Self-Organisation Model," Chapters, in: Innovation, Organization and Economic Dynamics, chapter 14, pages 410-432, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Issues in Assessing the Contribution of Research and Development to Productivity Growth," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 17-45, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. repec:eab:macroe:23507 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Giovanni Cerulli & Bianca Poti`, 2009. "Measuring Intersectoral Knowledge Spillovers: An Application Of Sensitivity Analysis To Italy," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 409-436.
    13. Zvi Griliches, 1984. "R&D, Patents, and Productivity," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril84-1.
    14. Coe, David T. & Helpman, Elhanan & Hoffmaister, Alexander W., 2009. "International R&D spillovers and institutions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 723-741, October.
    15. repec:eab:tradew:23507 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Wu Jinglian, 2009. "China’s Transition to a Market Economy: How Far Across the River?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Shinichi Ichimura & Tsuneaki Sato & William James (ed.), Transition from Socialist to Market Economies, chapter 2, pages 37-66, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. James B. Ang & Jakob B. Madsen, 2013. "International R&D Spillovers And Productivity Trends In The Asian Miracle Economies," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1523-1541, April.
    18. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    19. Coe, David T. & Helpman, Elhanan, 1995. "International R&D spillovers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 859-887, May.
    20. Peter K. Schott, 2008. "The relative sophistication of Chinese exports [‘Manufacturing Earnings and Compensation in China’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 23(53), pages 6-49.
    21. Krammer, Sorin M.S., 2014. "Assessing the relative importance of multiple channels for embodied and disembodied technological spillovers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 272-286.
    22. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    23. Ram C. Acharya & Wolfgang Keller, 2009. "Technology transfer through imports," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1411-1448, November.
    24. Yifu Lin, Justin, 1997. "Institutional reforms and dynamics of agricultural growth in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 201-212, June.
    25. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    26. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    27. Xu, Xinpeng & Sheng, Yu, 2012. "Productivity Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment: Firm-Level Evidence from China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 62-74.
    28. Daniel Cohen & Marcelo Soto, 2007. "Growth and human capital: good data, good results," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 51-76, March.
    29. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    30. Richard Blundell & Stephen Bond, 2000. "GMM Estimation with persistent panel data: an application to production functions," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 321-340.
    31. Lin, Ping & Liu, Zhuomin & Zhang, Yifan, 2009. "Do Chinese domestic firms benefit from FDI inflow?: Evidence of horizontal and vertical spillovers," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 677-691, December.
    32. Tang, Linghui & Koveos, Peter E., 2008. "Embodied and disembodied R&D spillovers to developed and developing countries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 546-558, October.
    33. Edwin Mansfield & Anthony Romeo, 1980. "Technology Transfer to Overseas Subsidiaries by U. S.-Based Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(4), pages 737-750.
    34. Keller, Wolfgang & Acharya, Ram C., 2008. "Estimating the Productivity Selection and Technology Spillover Effects of Imports," CEPR Discussion Papers 6860, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    35. Long, Zhiming & Herrera, Rémy, 2016. "Building original series of physical capital stocks for China's economy methodological problems, proposals for solutions and a new database," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 33-53.
    36. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    37. Barry Naughton, 2007. "The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262640643, December.
    38. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    39. Adams, James D, 1990. "Fundamental Stocks of Knowledge and Productivity Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(4), pages 673-702, August.
    40. Liang, Feng Helen, 2017. "Does foreign direct investment improve the productivity of domestic firms? Technology spillovers, industry linkages, and firm capabilities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 138-159.
    41. Nishioka, Shuichiro & Ripoll, Marla, 2012. "Productivity, trade and the R&D content of intermediate inputs," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1573-1592.
    42. Hiroyuki Odagiri & Shin-ya Kinukawa, 1997. "Contributions and Channels of Interindustry R&D Spillovers: An Estimation for Japanese High-tech Industries," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 127-142.
    43. Keller, Wolfgang, 1996. "Absorptive capacity: On the creation and acquisition of technology in development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 199-227, April.
    44. Ram C. Acharya, 2015. "Revisiting measure of R&D spillovers: empirical evidence on OECD countries and industries," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 360-400, June.
    45. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    46. Chen, Zhiyuan & Zhang, Jie & Zheng, Wenping, 2017. "Import and innovation: Evidence from Chinese firms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 205-220.
    47. Basant, Rakesh & Fikkert, Brian, 1996. "The Effects of R&D, Foreign Technology Purchase, and Domestic and International Spillovers on Productivity in Indian Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(2), pages 187-199, May.
    48. Griliches, Zvi, 1998. "R&D and Productivity," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226308869.
    49. Fernando Galindo-Rueda & Fabien Verger, 2016. "OECD Taxonomy of Economic Activities Based on R&D Intensity," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2016/4, OECD Publishing.
    50. Xiaolan Fu & Yundan Gong, 2009. "International and Intranational Technological Spillovers and Productivity Growth in China," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 8(2), pages 1-23, Spring.
    51. Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los, 2002. "Externalities of R&D Expenditures," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 407-425, December.
    52. Xing, Yuqing & Pradhananga, Manisha, 2013. "How Important are Exports and Foreign Direct Investment for Economic Growth in the People’s Republic of China?," ADBI Working Papers 427, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adekoya, Oluwasegun B. & Oliyide, Johnson A. & Kenku, Oluwademilade T. & Ajayi, Oluwafisayo F., 2023. "China's technological spillover effect on the energy efficiency of the BRI countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    2. Chunyun Wang & Senyu Xing & Lixiao Xu, 2023. "A Multi-Regional Input–Output Model to Measure the Spatial Spillover of R&D Capital," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-18, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Markus Eberhardt & Christian Helmers & Hubert Strauss, 2013. "Do Spillovers Matter When Estimating Private Returns to R&D?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 436-448, May.
    2. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Measuring the Returns to R&D," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1033-1082, Elsevier.
    3. Bettina Becker, 2013. "The Determinants of R&D Investment: A Survey of the Empirical Research," Discussion Paper Series 2013_09, Department of Economics, Loughborough University, revised Sep 2013.
    4. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    5. Ioannis Bournakis & Dimitris Christopoulos & Sushanta Mallick, 2018. "Knowledge Spillovers And Output Per Worker: An Industry‐Level Analysis For Oecd Countries," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1028-1046, April.
    6. Sergey Lychagin & Joris Pinkse & Margaret E. Slade & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Spillovers in Space: Does Geography Matter?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 295-335, June.
    7. Montresor, Sandro & Vezzani, Antonio, 2015. "The production function of top R&D investors: Accounting for size and sector heterogeneity with quantile estimations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 381-393.
    8. Hans Lööf & Martin Andersson, 2010. "Imports, Productivity and Origin Markets: The Role of Knowledge‐intensive Economies," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 458-481, March.
    9. Bravo-Ortega, Claudio & García Marín, Álvaro, 2011. "R&D and Productivity: A Two Way Avenue?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1090-1107, July.
    10. Ioannis Bournakis & Dimitris Christopoulos & Sushanta Mallick, 2015. "Knowledge Spillovers, absorptive capacity and growth: An Industry-level Analysis for OECD Countries," Working Papers 57, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    11. Keller, Wolfgang, 2010. "International Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Technology Spillovers," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 793-829, Elsevier.
    12. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Thorwarth, Susanne, 2012. "Productivity effects of basic research in low-tech and high-tech industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1555-1564.
    13. Ugur, Mehmet & Churchill, Sefa Awaworyi & Luong, Hoang M., 2020. "What do we know about R&D spillovers and productivity? Meta-analysis evidence on heterogeneity and statistical power," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    14. Johanna Vogel, 2015. "The two faces of R&D and human capital: Evidence from Western European regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 525-551, August.
    15. Cheryl Xiaoning Long & Galina Hale & Hirotaka Miura, 2014. "Productivity Spillovers from FDI in the People's Republic of China: A Nuanced View," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 31(2), pages 77-108, September.
    16. Martin Andersson & Hans Lööf, 2011. "Agglomeration and productivity: evidence from firm-level data," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(3), pages 601-620, June.
    17. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2015:i:147 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Krammer, Sorin M.S., 2015. "Do good institutions enhance the effect of technological spillovers on productivity? Comparative evidence from developed and transition economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 133-154.
    19. Costantini, Valeria & Liberati, Paolo, 2014. "Technology transfer, institutions and development," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 26-48.
    20. Damijan, Jože P. & Rojec, Matija & Majcen, Boris & Knell, Mark, 2013. "Impact of firm heterogeneity on direct and spillover effects of FDI: Micro-evidence from ten transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 895-922.
    21. Philipp Grunau, 2016. "The impact of overeducated and undereducated workers on establishment-level productivity," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(2), pages 372-392, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jincot:v:21:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s10842-021-00353-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.