IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/adbiwp/0939.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Rise of the People’s Republic of China and its Competition Effects on Innovation in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Yamashita, Nobuaki

    (Asian Development Bank Institute)

  • Yamauchi, Isamu

    (Asian Development Bank Institute)

Abstract

This paper empirically examines the “defensive innovation” hypothesis that firms with higher exposure to low-wage economy import competition intensively undertake more innovative activity by using a high quality Japanese firm-level panel dataset over the period 1994–2005. The novel feature of the analysis is the relation of firm-level variations of patent usage to import competition. The results suggest that intensified import competition from the People’s Republic of China has resulted in greater innovative activity by Japanese firms, consistent with the findings of European firms in Bloom et al. (2016). Moreover, such competition has also led to an increase in non-used patents.

Suggested Citation

  • Yamashita, Nobuaki & Yamauchi, Isamu, 2019. "The Rise of the People’s Republic of China and its Competition Effects on Innovation in Japan," ADBI Working Papers 939, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0939
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/493756/adbi-wp939.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tomiura, Eiichi, 2005. "Foreign outsourcing and firm-level characteristics: Evidence from Japanese manufacturers," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 255-271, June.
    2. Nina Pavcnik, 2002. "Trade Liberalization, Exit, and Productivity Improvements: Evidence from Chilean Plants," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 245-276.
    3. Feenstra, Robert C & Hanson, Gordon H, 1996. "Globalization, Outsourcing, and Wage Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 240-245, May.
    4. Daniel Trefler, 2004. "The Long and Short of the Canada-U. S. Free Trade Agreement," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 870-895, September.
    5. Damoun Ashournia & Jakob MunchDaniel Nguyen, 2014. "The Impact of Chinese Import Penetration on Danish Firms and Workers," Economics Series Working Papers 703, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Nicholas Bloom & Mirko Draca & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Trade Induced Technical Change? The Impact of Chinese Imports on Innovation, IT and Productivity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(1), pages 87-117.
    7. Amit Khandelwal, 2010. "The Long and Short (of) Quality Ladders," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(4), pages 1450-1476.
    8. Gene M. Grossman & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2008. "Trading Tasks: A Simple Theory of Offshoring," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1978-1997, December.
    9. Marianne Bertrand, 2004. "From the Invisible Handshake to the Invisible Hand? How Import Competition Changes the Employment Relationship," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(4), pages 723-766, October.
    10. Mary Amiti & Amit K. Khandelwal, 2013. "Import Competition and Quality Upgrading," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 476-490, May.
    11. David H. Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson, 2013. "The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2121-2168, October.
    12. Andrew Atkeson & Ariel Tomás Burstein, 2010. "Innovation, Firm Dynamics, and International Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(3), pages 433-484, June.
    13. Eric A. Verhoogen, 2008. "Trade, Quality Upgrading, and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 489-530.
    14. Eli Berman & John Bound & Zvi Griliches, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U. S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 367-397.
    15. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2007. "Comparative Advantage and Heterogeneous Firms," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(1), pages 31-66.
    16. Steven J. Davis & John Haltiwanger, 1992. "Gross Job Creation, Gross Job Destruction, and Employment Reallocation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 819-863.
    17. Athukorala, Prema-chandra & Yamashita, Nobuaki, 2006. "Production fragmentation and trade integration: East Asia in a global context," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 233-256, December.
    18. Paula Bustos, 2011. "Trade Liberalization, Exports, and Technology Upgrading: Evidence on the Impact of MERCOSUR on Argentinian Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(1), pages 304-340, February.
    19. Motohashi, Kazuyuki, 2008. "Licensing or not licensing? An empirical analysis of the strategic use of patents by Japanese firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1548-1555, October.
    20. Alla Lileeva & Daniel Trefler, 2010. "Improved Access to Foreign Markets Raises Plant-level Productivity…For Some Plants," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1051-1099.
    21. Mion, Giordano & Zhu, Linke, 2013. "Import competition from and offshoring to China: A curse or blessing for firms?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 202-215.
    22. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 2002. "Offshore production and skill upgrading by Japanese manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 81-105, October.
    23. Pär Hansson, 2000. "Relative Demand for Skills in Swedish Manufacturing: Technology or Trade?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 533-555, August.
    24. Hartmut Egger & Peter Egger, 2003. "Outsourcing and skill-specific employment in a small economy: Austria after the fall of the Iron Curtain," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 55(4), pages 625-643, October.
    25. Nagaoka, Sadao & Motohashi, Kazuyuki & Goto, Akira, 2010. "Patent Statistics as an Innovation Indicator," 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 1083-1127, Elsevier.
    26. 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.
    27. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213.
    28. repec:bla:reviec:v:8:y:2000:i:3:p:533-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Nobuaki Yamashita & Isamu Yamauchi, 2019. "The Rise of the People’s Republic of China and its Competition Effects on Innovation in Japan," Working Papers id:13030, eSocialSciences.
    2. Nicholas Bloom & Mirko Draca & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Trade Induced Technical Change? The Impact of Chinese Imports on Innovation, IT and Productivity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(1), pages 87-117.
    3. Nobuaki Yamashita & Isamu Yamauchi, 2020. "Innovation responses of Japanese firms to Chinese import competition," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 60-80, January.
    4. Muendler, Marc-Andreas, 2017. "Trade, technology, and prosperity: An account of evidence from a labor-market perspective," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2017-15, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    5. Yamashita, Nobuaki, 2017. "The People’s Republic of China’s Import Competition and Skill Demand in Japanese Manufacturing," ADBI Working Papers 644, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    6. David Hummels & Jakob R. Munch & Chong Xiang, 2018. "Offshoring and Labor Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 981-1028, September.
    7. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2012. "The Empirics of Firm Heterogeneity and International Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 283-313, July.
    8. Kasahara, Hiroyuki & Liang, Yawen & Rodrigue, Joel, 2016. "Does importing intermediates increase the demand for skilled workers? Plant-level evidence from Indonesia," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 242-261.
    9. Richard Bräuer & Matthias Mertens & Viktor Slavtchev, 2023. "Import competition and firm productivity: Evidence from German manufacturing," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(8), pages 2285-2305, August.
    10. Valérie Smeets & Sharon Traiberman & Frederic Warzynski, 2014. "Offshoring and the Shortening of the Quality Ladder: Evidence from Danish Apparel," Working Papers 2014-14, CEPII research center.
    11. Yamashita, Nobuaki, 2008. "The impact of production fragmentation on skill upgrading: New evidence from Japanese manufacturing," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 545-565, December.
    12. Mion, Giordano & Zhu, Linke, 2013. "Import competition from and offshoring to China: A curse or blessing for firms?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 202-215.
    13. Christian Darko & Giovanni Occhiali & Enrico Vanino, 2021. "The Chinese are Here: Import Penetration and Firm Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(12), pages 2112-2135, December.
    14. Andrés César & Guillermo Falcone, 2020. "Heterogeneous Effects of Chinese Import Competition on Chilean Manufacturing Plants," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 1-60, December.
    15. Ana Maria Santacreu & Liliana Varela, 2018. "Innovation and the Patterns of Trade: A Firm-Level Analysis," 2018 Meeting Papers 303, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    16. Li, Hongbin & Li, Lei & Ma, Hong, 2022. "China's skill-biased imports," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Matteo Bugamelli & Silvia Fabiani & Enrico Sette, 2015. "The Age of the Dragon: The Effect of Imports from China on Firm‐Level Prices," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(6), pages 1091-1118, September.
    18. Valerie Smeets & Sharon Traiberman & Frederic Warzynski, 2013. "Offshoring and Patterns of Quality Growth: Evidence from Danish Apparel," Economics Working Papers 2013-25, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    19. Maria Bas & Caroline Paunov, 2019. "What gains and distributional implications result from trade liberalization," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 19003, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    20. Melitz, Marc J. & Redding, Stephen J., 2014. "Heterogeneous Firms and Trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-54, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    defensive innovation; import competition; innovative activity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • O00 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - General - - - General

    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:ris:adbiwp:0939. 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: ADB Institute (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/adbinjp.html .

    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.