IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jrp/jrpwrp/2023-008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Beyond Trading: Knowledge Spillovers and learning-by-exporting in Global Value Chains

Author

Listed:
  • Holger Graf

    (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Economics Department)

  • Hoda Mohamed

    (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Economics Department)

Abstract

Does exporting intermediate goods induce learning from importers? In this paper, we examine to what extent learning from German industries can be explained by knowledge spillovers, channeled through the export of intermediate goods. Our study is based on a sample of 27 German trade partners in 14 manufacturing industries for the period 2004 to 2016. Using data on patent citations and trading in intermediate goods, we find support for the widely known "learning-by-exporting" hypothesis. Our analyses reveal that citations to German patents are positively related to exported intermediate goods weighted by German R&D expenditure. The relationship between these spillovers and learning seems to be particularly strong in certain industries. We also show that the level of absorptive capacity of the exporting trade partner, as measured by the number of researchers involved in R&D activities, plays a role in mediating these spillovers.

Suggested Citation

  • Holger Graf & Hoda Mohamed, 2023. "Beyond Trading: Knowledge Spillovers and learning-by-exporting in Global Value Chains," Jena Economics Research Papers 2023-008, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    • Handle: RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2023-008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://oweb.b67.uni-jena.de/Papers/jerp2023/wp_2023_008.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bin Xu & Jianmao Wang, 1999. "Capital Goods Trade and R&D Spillovers in the OECD," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(5), pages 1258-1274, November.
    2. Ben-David, Dan & Loewy, Michael B, 1998. "Free Trade, Growth, and Convergence," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 143-170, June.
    3. Rene Belderbos & Leo Sleuwaegen & Dieter Somers & Koen De Backer, 2016. "Where to Locate Innovative Activities in Global Value Chains: Does Co-location Matter?," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers 30, OECD Publishing.
    4. 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.
    5. Bart Verspagen, 1997. "Estimating international technology spillovers using technology flow matrices," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 133(2), pages 226-248, June.
    6. Muhammad Ali & Uwe Cantner & Ipsita Roy, 2017. "Knowledge Spillovers Through FDI and Trade: The Moderating Role of Quality-Adjusted Human Capital," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 357-391, Springer.
    7. Grossman, Gene M. & Helpman, Elhanan, 1991. "Trade, knowledge spillovers, and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(2-3), pages 517-526, April.
    8. Brach, Juliane & Kappel, Robert, 2009. "Global Value Chains, Technology Transfer and Local Firm Upgrading in Non-OECD Countries," GIGA Working Papers 110, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    9. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Costantini, Valeria & Liberati, Paolo, 2014. "Technology transfer, institutions and development," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 26-48.
    2. Jan Hagemejer & Jakub Mućk, 2018. "Unraveling the economic performance of the CEEC countries. The role of exports and global value chains," NBP Working Papers 283, Narodowy Bank Polski.
    3. Valentina Bosetti & Elena Verdolini, 2013. "Clean and Dirty International Technology Diffusion," Working Papers 2013.43, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Andrea Fracasso & Giuseppe Vittucci Marzetti, 2013. "An empirical note on international R&D spillovers," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 179-191, August.
    5. Tica Josip & Šikić Luka, 2019. "Endogenous Convergence and International Technological Diffusion Channels," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 14(2), pages 34-53, December.
    6. von Brasch, T. & Cappelen, Å. & Hungnes, H. & Skjerpen, T., 2021. "Modeling R&D spillovers to productivity: The effects of tax credits," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Francisco J. Buera & Ezra Oberfield, 2020. "The Global Diffusion of Ideas," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(1), pages 83-114, January.
    8. Julien Berthoumieu, 2015. "Technology Diffusion via Patent Collaborations: The Case of European Integration," Working Papers hal-01224761, HAL.
    9. Yin He & Keith E. Maskus, 2012. "Southern Innovation And Reverse Knowledge Spillovers: A Dynamic Fdi Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(1), pages 279-302, February.
    10. Randolph Luca Bruno & Elodie Douarin & Julia Korosteleva & Slavo Radosevic, 2019. "Determinants of Productivity Gap in the European Union: A Multilevel Perspective," LEM Papers Series 2019/25, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    11. Gandenberger, Carsten, 2015. "Theoretical perspectives on the international transfer and diffusion of climate technologies," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S12/2015, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    12. Mark Funk, 2001. "Trade and International R&D Spillovers among OECD Countries," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(3), pages 725-736, January.
    13. Rosina Moreno & Enrique López-Bazo & Esther Vayá & Manuel Artís, 2004. "External Effects and Cost of Production," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Luc Anselin & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Sergio J. Rey (ed.), Advances in Spatial Econometrics, chapter 14, pages 297-317, Springer.
    14. Ipsita Roy & Sourabh Bikas Paul, 2022. "Knowledge Spillovers and Productivity Growth: Role of Absorptive Capacity in the Indian Manufacturing Sector," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 233-257, June.
    15. R. Rijesh, 2015. "Technology Import and Manufacturing Productivity in India: Firm Level Analysis," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 411-434, December.
    16. Trejos, Sandra & Barboza, Gustavo, 2015. "Dynamic estimation of the relationship between trade openness and output growth in Asia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 110-125.
    17. Xu, Kun & Guan, Zhihua & Xu, Wenli, 2015. "省级财政支出效率空间溢出效应研究：基于超效率dea和gsm模型 [Study on Spatial Spillover Effect of Provincial Fiscal Efficiency: Based on Super-Efficient DEA and GSM Model]," MPRA Paper 71132, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Edward N. Wolff, 2011. "Spillovers, Linkages, and Productivity Growth in the US Economy, 1958 to 2007," NBER Working Papers 16864, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Muhammad Ali & Uwe Cantner & Ipsita Roy, 2017. "Knowledge Spillovers Through FDI and Trade: The Moderating Role of Quality-Adjusted Human Capital," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 357-391, Springer.
    20. 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).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    GVC; trade; intermediate goods; learning-by-exporting; knowledge spillovers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:jrp:jrpwrp:2023-008. 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: Markus Pasche (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.jenecon.de .

    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.