High-tech Countries Research Articles

Two-Country HANK and trade friction.

Compared to the Two-Country Representative Agents and the Small Open Economy Heterogeneous Agents models, this paper develops a Two-Country Heterogeneous Agents New Keynesian model, building a heterogeneous and endogenous channel of mutual investments on foreign illiquid assets and exploring two countries' wealth distribution and inequality. This model explores the impacts of trade barriers on the two countries' economic structures and behaviors. In the symmetric economy, the first launcher of tariffs suffers higher losses from the trade war, the other that does not launch tariffs suffers fewer losses. The two countries both suffer higher losses if the two sides simultaneously launch the trade war. However, in the asymmetrical economy, the country with a larger economic scale and higher productivities suffers lower losses from the trade war. Thus the high-tech country has the motivation to launch the trade war at a lower cost than the low-tech country. This paper implies that the trade war only occurs in asymmetric economies. The low-tech country can change its dilemma by improving technology because higher technology can enhance the quality level of products, stimulate economic consumption and investments, and finally offset the loss from tariff friction. Meanwhile, the trade detour is also an effective means to reduce the loss resulted from trade friction.

International Legal Instruments as the Rule of the Game for the Trade in COVID-19 Vaccine

<em>This article discusses international legal instruments that guide the trade in COVID-19 Vaccine. After efforts to discover and develop COVID-19 Vaccine which in fact are in favor of developed countries and high-tech countries as well as rich countries and high-income countries, and then this condition continues to have an impact on the distribution and trade stages resulting in difficulty in accessing the COVID-19 Vaccine fairly and equitably for developing countries and least-developed countries. Tracking international legal instruments from upstream to downstream have been needed to form a comprehensive mindset and find the right of rule of the game of trade in COVID-19 Vaccine. Finally, it was found that various of international legal instruments in form of international agreement that were closely related to the trade in COVID-19 Vaccine is already available, as well as being able to frame the interest of developing countries and least-developed countries on a reasonable basis, that is the occurrence of a national health emergency due to the COVID-19 disease. The principle of pacta sunt servanda must be used as a basic reason that binding all world countries to obey and comply with the contents of international agreement in accordance with the legal will of the competent authorities through the ratification process of that international agreement.</em>

Chinese perspectives on the US-China rivalry: navigating geo-economic and technological tensions in a new era of global statism

ABSTRACT How did geo-economic and technological competition between the United States and China arise? And what is the Chinese perspective on the US-China rivalry? In this forum article, we analyze the conflict from a critical political economy perspective. We argue that the US has mobilized its structural power as the leading high-tech country in global value chains to curtail China’s ascent. By elucidating Chinese responses to American structural power, we shed light on the development and complexities of this conflict, thereby contributing to a more profound comprehension of the US-China geo-economic competition. We conclude that the intensifying US-Chinese rivalry has the potential to foster a new era of public policies characterized by global statism.

International transfer to reduce global inequality and transboundary pollution

In this paper, we analyze the response of the future world’s carbon stock to a reduction in global inequality among countries, using a framework that allows countries to make their environmental policy strategically. Heterogeneity across countries is related to income, emission technology, and environmental damage costs. We show that reducing global inequality would have a mitigating effect on the path of future world’s carbon stock if the relative number of richly-endowed countries in the subgroup of high-tech countries is greater than that in the subgroup of low-tech countries. The response of the future world’s carbon stock to a reduction in global inequality depends on the relative strength of two forces working in opposite directions: the mitigating force and the aggravating force. The mitigating force is associated with a measure of both richly-endowed/high-technology countries and poorly-endowed/low-technology countries. The aggravating force is associated with a measure of both richly-endowed/low-technology countries and poorly-endowed/high-technology countries. Status-seeking motives among countries act as a multiplier of the effects of the inequality reduction on the future path of the pollution stock. Our results highlight complex interactions to scrutinize in the design of international climate change policies while taking global inequality issues into account.

Analysis of student attitudes towards cooperative learning in a collectivist culture: a case of South Korea

PurposeThis study concentrates on South Korean university students' attitude towards cooperative learning by utilizing the “Student Attitudes toward Group Environments” survey (n = 427–181 female and 246 male) originally developed by Kouros and Abrami (2006).Design/methodology/approachThe purpose of this study is to unfold what factors affect the cooperative learning environment in the Higher Education context of South Korea, which is known as a collectivist society, and conduct comparative analysis on gender, department type, GPA level and school year as variables in the perception of cooperative learning. The factor analysis findings demonstrated that there are four factors influencing students' attitude about cooperative learning environments in South Korean higher education; “frustrations with group members”, “peer support”, “fairness” and “quality of product and process”. Moreover, the gender, type of department, school year and GPA variables were yielded statistically differentiating results.FindingsThe overall results showed that effective cooperative learning strategies depend on the type of culture and other demographic variables including learner's gender, department type and school year. In South Korea, known to have a collectivist culture, fairness has appeared as a new criteria needing to be considered when designing a cooperative learning environment, which is a different case than in individualistic cultures. Thus, when employing cooperative learning strategies in South Korea, educators should take learners' culture into consideration. For this, educators might utilize the final instrument of this study as a guideline or criteria to establish an effective cooperative learning environment.Originality/valueThis article provides an example from South Korea which is known as both a collectivist and high-tech country.

User perceptions of WeChat and WeChat pay in China

Purpose China has been one of these countries that followed glocalization with the establishment of Chinese social media platforms, which adopt global trends and software patterns. WeChat has been a success story that at first emerged as a social communication tool but has extended to include commercial dynamics as well. Hence, this study aims to understand WeChat user’s general perceptions of the WeChat platform as a general social platform and as a commercial business platform. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the sample (n = 400) was obtained from a specific group of people who have had experiences with different WeChat tools and their payment systems. Nonrandom purposive sampling was used by considering its higher probability of representativeness. The online survey that was given to participants through the WeChat groups included 14 questions, in which eight questions are for demographics and general WeChat use, and six questions are for WeChat payment. After descriptive statistical analysis, comparison-based tests were conducted and interpreted accordingly. Findings Overall, the study participants had a high frequency of using WeChat’s messaging and moments features. Moreover, users perceive WeChat and its payment tools as unsecured or not secure enough. However, that perception did not affect their intention to continue adopting the app. Hence, regardless of the unsecure perception, study participants still had high usage of WeChat pay. Originality/value This paper provides an example from China that is known as a high-tech country, and there are a very few studies on the WeChat app despite their high number of users and daily financial transactions.

Supply Chain Management: Empirical Case Study of a Small-Scale Manufacturing Company in Nigeria

The supply chain of a manufacturing company can be classified into three categories namely: 1) supplier chain; these are a network of suppliers of raw materials, machinery, and other requirements for daily operations for the company; 2) internal chain; these are departmental or functional relationships within the organization like production, finance, marketing, logistic and quality control departments all interacting together to achieve the goals and objective of the company; and 3) customer chain; these are networks used for products distribution to the final consumer which includes the product distributors and retailers in the marketplace as may be applicable. In a developing country like Nigeria where government infrastructures are poor or in some cases none in existence, the survival of a small-scale manufacturing company often depends on how effectively its supply chain is managed. In Nigeria, suppliers of machinery and raw materials to most manufacturing companies are from low-cost but high-tech countries like China or India. The problem with the supply chain from these countries apart from the language barrier between these countries and Nigeria is also that of product quality and after-sales support services. The internal chain also requires funding to employ an experienced and trained workforce to deliver the company’s goals and objectives effectively and efficiently which is always a challenge for small scale manufacturers including product marketing. In Nigeria, the management of the supply chain by small scale manufacturers is further complicated by unfavourable government policies. This empirical research is a review and analysis of the supply chain management of a small-scale manufacturing company located in Lagos Nigeria. The company performance for the past five years has been on the decline and company management thinks there is a need for a review of its supply chain management for business survival. The company’s supply chain is analysed and compared with best global practices in this research and recommendations made to the company management. The research outcome justifies the company’s need for a strategic change in its supply chain management for business sustainability and provides a learning point to small-scale manufacturing companies from developing countries of Africa.

Comparative review on information and communication technology issues in education sector of developed and developing countries: a case study about Pakistan

The use of information and communication technology is very beneficial in the education sector because it can enhance the quality of education. However, the implementation of ICT in the education sector of developed and developing countries is a challenging task. This paper explains the comparative study of ICT issues in the education sector of developed and developing countries. In particular, we compare issues between Pakistan and high-tech countries. Our study reveals the fact that the education sector is facing numerous ICT problems that are based on culture, finance, management, infrastructure, lack of training, lack of equipment, teacher’s refusal, and ethical issues. At the end of this paper, various issues faced by the implementation of ICT in the education sector of Pakistan have been categorized into various types, namely, infrastructure, lack of IT professionals, lack of high-speed internet and equipment. Our research is based on five key research questions related to ICT issues. We used a mixed approach where the results of this study can be used as a set of guidelines to help make the learning environment technology-oriented, fast, planned, and productive. Future directions are also given at the end of this paper.

The climate economic effect of technology spillover

There is increasing interest in the global CO2 emissions transfer caused by international trade. However, the reduction potential of technology spillover is rarely considered. More importantly, the effect of technology spillover on climate change and the social cost of carbon (SCC) should be further investigated to inform climate policy-makers. In this study, we investigate the climate economic impact of technology spillover through unidirectional coupling of the emissions embodied in bilateral trade (EEBT) method and the dynamic integrated model of climate and economy (DICE). The results indicate that technological progress in the electricity sector could contribute to climate change mitigation and SCC lowering. The trade-related CO2 emissions of key CO2 exporters could be substantially reduced, such as China, India, Russia, and resource- and labor-intensive countries. High-tech countries outsourced large amounts of CO2 emissions to labor- and resource-intensive countries. However, a large income gap remains between high-tech and labor/resource-intensive countries. These results indicate the great importance of technological progress and sustainable management throughout the global supply chain.

New Strategic Approaches to Gaining from Emerging Advanced Manufacturing Markets

Advanced Manufacturing (AM) markets are a major factor of contemporary worldwide growth that to a large extent determines countries’ competitiveness. Strengthening and/or optimizing the positions on AM markets is among the major challenges for modern industrial policy. This article discusses the structure and dynamics of the development of advanced manufacturing markets, as well as the specifics of the policies of the countries strengthening their positions in these markets. Gaining entry into AM markets currently implies individual countries’ and industries’ adopting different models which combine a wide range of factors. Small nations are rapidly applying such approaches, gaining advantages and thus increasing their competitive edge, which creates certain challenges for leading high-tech countries too slow to adjust their industrial policies. So far the basis for Industry 4.0 markets is just emerging, and remains limited to a few nations including developing ones. Country cases are presented below to illustrate the development of AM markets. The authors conclude that in the current context, no universal approaches to shaping a successful industrial policy remain. The most productive strategy is to combine the unique advantages of a particular economy.

PHILOSOPHICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CREATION OF THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE OF THE JUNIOR ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE

The article presents the philosophical and pedagogical principles of creating a science museum for young students in the context of the development of scientific education. The global and conceptual transformations in public life over the last 20 years, which contribute to the change of approaches to the development of scientific education both in the world and in the country, are analyzed. The experience of high-tech countries of the world on the education of a new generation of researchers and a role in this process of interactive scientific spaces, possibilities of use of the potential of museums for the realization of educational and scientific programs is revealed. The peculiarities of fundamentally new approaches to the organization of museum spaces for young researchers, which form a research search approach, stimulate the creativity of gifted students in contrast to the reproductive acquisition of knowledge, are considered. The importance of new approaches and methods of museum pedagogy in modern conditions, in accordance with changes in education, psychology of modern students, the requirements of the new Ukrainian school to the level of knowledge of students and competencies of teachers. It is established that in the modern conditions of high-tech society, interactive scientific spaces should become centers of popularization of science, creative coworking spaces of communication for teachers-researchers and playgrounds-experiments for children. It is noted that the philosophical and pedagogical principles for the creation of the Museum of Science of the Academy of Sciences are increasingly relevant in the context of the development of scientific education, education of innovative, creative personality and should be based on general philosophical and cultural values.

FACTORS AFFECTING INWARD FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: CASE OF ASEAN COUNTRIES

The goal of this study is to identify the determinants of foreign direct investment in members of ASEAN countries (will be known as ASEAN-9 and ASEAN-7 from 1990 to 2017 by using Pooled Least Square as the model.The results show that market size, trade openness, infrastructure, research & development, and inflation have positive effects on inward FDI which can be considered as determinants of FDI. On the other hand, human capital and real interest rates show a negative sign.This study also discussed the FDI trend after the global finance crisis in 2008. The results indicate that the annual trend for FDI after 2008 is positive, which means there is no big impact from the global financial crisis of 2008 on FDI inflows.Based on the results, GDP, infrastructures, and trade openness become the important factors to attract foreign investors. Therefore, government can improve through policies, such as easing trade procedures, or improving the quantity and quality of the infrastructure.The difference finding is found on the negative result of human capital effect on inward FDI. Thus, the quality of human resources still needs improvement because it can improve thelow-tech into high-tech destination countries for FDI.

Forecasting the temporal stock generation and recycling potential of metals towards a sustainable future: The case of gallium in China

Gallium is one such co-product mineral, being used for consumer electronics and contemporary renewable energy applications. China is the top producer of gallium and supplies over 70% of global demand. However, supply uncertainty of primary gallium is increasing due to a shortage of reserves. Thus, development of recycling technologies to complement primary production should be prioritized, with more country-specific attention due to its low investment cost and short-term feasibility. In this study, possible end-of-life (EoL) gallium waste generation in China until 2050 was forecasted using linear regression and constructed a scenario analysis based on population and annual demand growth parameters. Similarly, cumulative domestic demand was estimated using 1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 30% recycling rates to investigate the effect of recycling on sustainability of gallium resources. Based on the used method, study results were different; however, continuous demand growth and resource use are expected in most cases. The annual total gallium stock generation in 2050 will reach to 368 t under linear regression forecasting while it will likely fall between 59 t and 148 t according to scenario analysis. Linear projections show that cumulative demand will surpass even reserve base in 2047 whilst scenario analyses demonstrate that cumulative demand will exceed reserve between 2037 and 2047, if there would be unable to implement necessary recycling routes in the short term. The linear regression cumulative demand prediction urges the need of substitution, while the scenario analysis demonstrates the importance of increasing EoL recycling rates. The latter should also be supported with improved EoL collection rates, technological transfer from high-tech countries to China and appropriate policy advancement. The output of the study also convinces the importance of moving towards a circular economic model in the anthropogenic flow of gallium utilization.

U.S.-China Relations Under the Trump Administration: Changes and Challenges

The beginning of the 21st century witnessed remarkable changes in the distribution of global power. The lack of strategic vision by the United States has resulted in a power crisis, which in turn accelerates the trends of new multipolarity with several power centers in the world. Since President Trump took office in January 2017, the United States has been challenging the established norms of international relations on many fronts and, in particular, shifting its policy toward China to one that trumpets geopolitical rivalry amid their economic interdependence. The ever increasing anxiety of the United States has undermined multilateralism and globalization, generating profound consequences and impacts on major-power relations around the world. In the future, Washington and Beijing must seek common goals that can bring them together to resolve disagreements and set boundaries for potential conflicts. The U.S. leadership should always keep in mind that China is an important partner; and if the two powers fail to cooperate, there will be devastating implications for the whole world. In the meantime, Washington and Beijing need to be aware that an acute conflict of any kind between two high-tech countries may substantially change the world for all.

Technology, Society and the Digital Gap

What is more influential—technology or society? While this issue has been in constant dilemma for many researches, the situation in Israel is clear: Israel is a leading high-tech country and technology is leading society in all aspects. In terms of technology, Israel is a technologically advanced market economy. It is known as a “Start-up Nation”, which means that its economic growth is stupendous and leading in high-tech worldwide. On the other hand, Israel is among the most impoverished of the OECD member countries, with a high rate of poverty and a social and digital big gap between its rich and poor. The main issue that this research investigates is the social gap of a developed country and a leading start-up nation which falls behind many countries in major social and policy categories. As the research demonstrates, Israel is a prime example of the domination of technology over society. The country’s development is a product of the digital revolution which situates Israel as a developed country in terms of technology, however also has been negative for the socio-economic inequality, to what this research defines as the digital gap.

The problem of romanticising Israel–Taiwan relations

Israeli academic literature on Taiwan depicts the relations between the two states in the most favourable terms, assuming a mutually beneficial partnership between the Jewish state and the East Asian country, seen as free of any anti-Semitism. The Israeli literature understands Taiwan solely as a small democratic, modern high-tech country surrounded by enemies. This projection of the own country image onto Taiwan leads to a romanticised and false idea of it. In fact, Taiwan is a highly anti-Semitic country with a poor human rights record and fascist tendencies. The Simon Wiesenthal Center is right to say that ‘it is obvious that Taiwan has a problem’. So, too, have many Israeli writings on the country which ignore the rather unsettling reality.

Risk study of service outsourcing projects undertaken by high-tech innovative enterprise

With rapid development and thorough application of service outsourcing industry, in high-tech innovative enterprises, business types and country category concerning undertaking of service outsourcing projects have also appeared with booming trend, the attendant risks were diverse and multiple trend, make China’s outsourcing enterprises foreign service faces new opportunities and challenges. In order to reduce the international service outsourcing project risk, this paper based on the perspective of the contractors, risk early warning model is established by using analytic hierarchy process, and in a day of service outsourcing enterprises in China to carry out empirical research, using the factor comparison between building the hierarchical model, the layers of decomposition, obtained the actual results.

Understanding the modes of use and availability of critical metals – An expert-based scenario analysis for the case of indium

Natural resources are an essential pillar of today's economic and technological innovation. Growing demand, in particular for certain metals relevant for emerging technologies such as low-carbon energy production, has recently led to supply concerns especially in resource-importing high-tech countries in Europe and North America. Current approaches for facing the challenges linked to supply security and general modes of use and re-use often focus on either technological innovation or on the development of relevant governance interventions, but lack a common pursuance of objectives. We used an expert-based formative scenario analysis to examine the role these approaches play in the case of indium, and how they interrelate. We identified four exemplary scenarios that reflect how indium use may be influenced in different ways: (i) an extrapolation of today's trends (business as usual); (ii) a focus on the recycling phase; (iii) a governance system with stringent governmental regulations; and (iv) a governance system with well-balanced power structures and cooperation. We then analyzed these system scenarios in terms of their plausibility when assuming different surrounding conditions (shell scenarios) to determine their overall robustness. The evaluation of the scenarios showed that measures should be taken to optimize life-cycle interfaces, including both primary and secondary production. We show that the state is a vital actor within the system of resource production and consumption, but has a limited operating range on an international scale. It must therefore provide the appropriate conditions to allow the evolution of private industry initiatives, which then can also contribute to the system's robustness. As a result, strategies targeting sustainable resource use could be the appropriate instrument to formulate a common objective and to more effectively coordinate such approaches for fostering sustainable indium use.

Determinants of Global Competitiveness of Chinese Economy

The Chinese economy has reached approximately average annual growth of 9% after economic reform era that began in 1978. This economic development miracle resulted from by exploiting the economic potential of internal factors in a complimentary external environment. Main aim of this study is to investigate the determinants of the global competitiveness of Chinese economy by considering economic development process of the Chinese economy and World Economic Forum the Global Competitiveness Index. It is vital to understand the determinants of global competitiveness for the Chinese economy in order to achieve sustainable economic development path in the highly competitive world economy conditions. The result of the study shows that the Chinese economy has strong global competitiveness indicators beside some problematic indicators. The Chinese economy is becoming more competitive by improving bottlenecks and structural problems. On the other hand the Chinese economy have to transform from cheap labour-intensive competitive advantage into high-tech innovative country with high qualified human capital in order to achieve sustainable economic growth in the long term.

Holding a candle to innovation in concentrating solar power technologies: A study drawing on patent data

Improved understanding of the innovative pathways of renewable energy technologies is vital if we are to make the transition to a low carbon economy. This study presents new evidence on innovation and industry dynamics in concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies. Though CSP is undergoing a renaissance, existing innovation studies have explored innovative activity in solar technologies in general, ignoring the major differences between solar photovoltaic and CSP technologies. This study, based on patent data, examines the level and dynamics of innovative activity in CSP between 1978 and 2004. Our unique contribution, based on engineering expertise and detailed datawork, is a classification system mapping CSP technologies to the International Patent Classification (IPC) system. The innovation performance of CSP is found to be surprisingly weak compared to the patent boom in other green technologies. Performance was strong around 1980 before falling dramatically, and has only recently begun to show signs of recovery. Innovation and R&D are concentrated in high-tech countries; the US, Germany and Japan, which do not necessarily have high domestic CSP potential. Large CSP potential is, therefore, not a sufficient condition for innovation. Innovators must possess economic and scientific capabilities.