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Do Political Regimes Matter for Technology Diffusion?

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  • Keisuke Okada

    (Kansai University)

  • Sovannroeun Samreth

    (Saitama University)

Abstract

Productivity growth is important for long-term economic growth and development, and technology adoption is one of its key drivers. This study empirically assesses whether political regimes are a significant determinant of technology diffusion. Specifically, we examine the effects of political regimes on diffusion of technology using data based on a sample of 104 technologies from 137 countries for the period 1901 to 2000. We consider detailed categories of technologies and investigate the differences in the impacts of political regimes on each technology. Our estimation results show that democracy does not have a significant impact on the overall diffusion of technology but it is positively associated with the diffusion of health- and agriculture-related technologies. Furthermore, the diffusion of infrastructure, general, and other sector-specific technologies is not influenced by political regimes. Considering different types of democracies and dictatorships, we find that parliamentary democracy has a positive impact on health- and agriculture-related technology diffusion. On the contrary, all types of dictatorships, namely civilian, military, and royal, have negative impacts on diffusion of technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Keisuke Okada & Sovannroeun Samreth, 2024. "Do Political Regimes Matter for Technology Diffusion?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 3409-3422, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s13132-023-01266-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-023-01266-0
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Technology diffusion; Political regime; Democracy; Dictatorship;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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