International Technology Spillovers Research Articles

Global value chain embeddedness, technology spillover and enterprise innovation

Innovation is the first driving force for high-quality economic development, and the global value chain (GVC) with intermediate goods as the carrier is an essential channel for international technology spillovers. This paper conducts a comprehensive examination of the impact of GVC embeddedness on enterprise innovation from the perspective of two-way embedding. An empirical test using the UIBE GVC Indicators data, Chinese Industrial Enterprise data, China Customs data, and enterprise patent data shows that GVC embeddedness significantly promotes enterprise innovation. The effect of backward embeddedness is greater than that of forward embeddedness. However, the innovation effect of GVC embeddedness is heterogeneous due to different innovation types, embeddedness depths, ownership, trade patterns, and locations of enterprises. Meanwhile, the technology spillovers are an essential channel for GVC embeddedness to promote enterprise innovation. By uncovering the role mechanism of GVC embeddedness in influencing enterprise innovation from the perspective of technology spillovers, this paper offers a new way of thinking to fully unleash the innovation effect of GVC embeddedness.

The effects of environmental innovations and international technology spillovers on industrial and energy sector emissions – Evidence from small open economies.

Environmental innovations hold promise for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but most technology investments are made in large technologically leading countries. Thus, emission reductions in small open economies, such as the Nordic countries, depend on not only domestic technological development, but also technology spillovers from foreign countries. The present study analysed how the development of climate change technologies affected the Nordic countries' GHG emissions from the industrial and energy sectors during a particular time frame. Consequently, while controlling for economic growth and population, domestic and foreign technological development's effects on industrial and energy sector GHG emissions were examined from the 1990–2019 period. The results revealed that both domestically developed environmental technologies and technology spillovers from foreign economies mitigated GHG emissions from these nations' energy and industrial sectors, thereby providing an efficient pathway to achieving sectoral environmental sustainability. In particular, domestic environmental technologies were found to be more efficient in driving environmental sustainability in the industrial sector, whereas impacts from domestic and foreign technological development did not differ significantly in the energy sector. Furthermore, given that economic growth plays a vital role in GHG emissions, environmental Kuznets curve (EKC; inverted U-shaped and U-shaped) relationships have been observed in the energy and industrial sectors, respectively. This suggests that the examined countries' industrial sectors have more environmental quality hurdles to overcome.

Can technological change bring the improvement of green total factor productivity?: evidence from China

ABSTRACT Technological change is a vital force for sustained economic growth. As environmental pollution becomes more prominent, a ‘green’ development model that integrates economic growth and environmental protection has become an inevitable choice for countries worldwide. Using panel data from 30 provinces in China, this study analyzes the impact of three technological change channels: domestic technology stock, international technology spillover, and absorptive capacity on green total factor productivity (GTFP). The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The three technological change ways of domestic technology stock, international technology spillover, and absorptive capacity show a U-shaped nonlinear relationship that first inhibits and then promotes GTFP. (2) The impact of three technological change methods on GTFP is different in different regions, and different channels of technological change in the same region play different roles. Therefore, all localities should formulate technological change measures according to local conditions. (3) In terms of the mechanism of action, the innovation preference of enterprises positively moderate the relationship between domestic technology stock and GTFP; Social innovation preference strengthens the promoting effect of international technology spillover and absorptive capacity on GTFP; Government innovation preference has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between international technology spillover and GTFP.

Value-Added Trade, Trade Barriers, and International Technology Spillover—Evidence from China’s Manufacturing Industry

Abstract Whereas the technology spillover effect of international trade has been widely concerned by academic circles, the impact of trade barriers on technology spillover has received relatively less attention. This paper assesses the heterogeneity of international technology spillover effects in China’s manufacturing industry from traditional gross trade and value-added trade perspectives. Moreover, a deep insight into the effects of tariff and non-tariff barriers on international technology diffusion from traditional gross trade and value-added trade perspectives is also provided. Results show that the international trade indeed engenders technology diffusion, which is especially true in value-added trade characterized by intermediate goods trade compared with traditional gross trade. Additionally, tariff barriers severely disrupt technology diffusion in international trade, and traditional gross trade statistics underestimate the cumulative destructive effect of trade barriers on technology diffusion. Consequently, it can be concluded that reducing the abuse and misuse of non-tariff barriers can moderate the negative effect of trade barriers on international technology diffusion. JEL classification numbers: F14. Keywords: Global value chains; Value-added trade; Trade barriers; International technology spillover; Manufacturing industry.

Green Finance, International Technology Spillover and Green Technology Innovation: A New Perspective of Regional Innovation Capability

Regional green technological progress is an important driver of regional green technology innovations. To explore in depth the impact of green finance and international technology spillover on regional green technology innovation, this study incorporates green finance, international technology spillover, and green technology innovation into the same analytical framework. In addition, based on a new perspective of regional innovation capabilities, this study analyzes the impact of green finance and international green technology spillovers on green technology innovation. The data were collected in 30 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2019 and analyzed by a panel fixed-effects model. The interaction between green finance, international technology spillover, and regional innovation capability was investigated to understand the impact of each interaction on green technology innovation. Second, regional innovation capability was used as an intermediary variable to identify its underlying mechanism. Finally, the spatial spillover effect of green technology innovation was analyzed using the spatial Durbin model. We found that: (1) green finance, import trade, outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), and regional innovation capability can promote regional green technology innovation, while inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) has an inhibitory effect on the innovation; (2) the interaction of green finance, international technology spillovers, and regional innovation capacity positively impacts green technology innovation; (3) green finance and international technology spillovers can promote green technology innovation by promoting regional innovation capabilities; (4) and green technology innovations have spatial spillover effects, and innovations in one region can promote the growth of green technologies in adjacent regions. This study provides a reference not only for China but also for other developing countries to promote green technology advancement and achieve sustainable development goals.

Spatial impact mechanism of Chinese technology diffusion on CO2 emissions in the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.

International climate and green technology cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R) have attracted significant attention, which led to several studies exploring B&R carbon emissions from the perspective of driving factors. While existing studies fail to consider the diversification of China's technology spillovers, the stochastic impacts by the STIRPAT and GWTR models are integrated in this study to determine the spatial impacts of three types of international technology spillovers (i.e., foreign direct investment (FDI), imports, and migrants) on the carbon emissions of B&R countries through independent innovations and technology following during 2003-2018. China's FDI and migration technology spillovers will increase B&R countries' CO2 emissions through independent R&D and technology following, while imported technology spillovers will decrease B&R countries' carbon emissions through the same means. Therefore, this study shows that China's three technology spillovers show spatial differences in the CO2 emissions of B&R countries. In short, government departments should formulate low-carbon technology policies according to the technology impact path and regional characteristics.

Toward Sustainable Development: Unleashing the Mechanism Among International Technology Spillover, Institutional Quality, and Green Innovation Capability.

Under the background of sustainable development, China’s economic growth engine becomes innovation-driven, and it is an important way for China to rapidly improve its green innovation capability by opening up to the outside world and utilizing the spillover effect of international technology. In this article, the system quality evaluation system is reconstructed by the method of fully arranged polygonal graphical indicators, and the provincial system quality in China is measured and added into the model as a regulating variable. The dynamic panel method and the dynamic threshold panel method are used to test the direct effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign trade on green innovation capability, the interaction effect of institutional quality, and the threshold effect. Empirical results show that the three technology spillovers have significantly promoted China’s green innovation capability. System quality will affect the determining coefficient of international technology spillovers on China’s green innovation capability. The positive promoting effects of FDI and foreign trade on China’s green innovation capability, all increase with the improvement of China’s system quality. Therefore, when utilizing FDI and foreign trade to promote green innovation in each region, each region should consider creating a good institutional environment for the emergence of international technological effects.

Coordination of IFDI and OFDI, government innovation support, and China's industrial green transformation.

Accelerating industrial green transformation (IGT) is the intrinsic requirement of realizing low-carbon and green economic development. Inward Foreign Direct Investment (IFDI) and Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) are the main channels of international technology spillover. Whether the coordination of IFDI and OFDI (CIO) can promote IGT and what role the Chinese government's innovation support plays need to be investigated. Using China's provincial panel data from 2003 to 2019, this paper discusses the impact of CIO on IGT and the moderating effect of government's innovation support. It is found that the CIO can significantly promote the IGT. Government providing R&D funds directly can enhance the promotion of CIO to IGT. However, government releasing innovation signal indirectly shows a significant negative impact on the promotion of CIO to IGT. In addition, the impact of CIO on IGT and the moderating effect of government's innovation support are heterogeneous significantly among different regions. This study not only helps to clarify the relationship between CIO and IGT but also provides enlightenment for government to scientifically formulate innovation policies to achieve green economic development.

Investigating the role of international industrial transfer and technology spillovers on industrial land production efficiency: Fresh evidence based on Directional Distance Functions for Chinese provinces

Participation in international industrial transfer (IIT) provides a significant opportunity and a motivation to improve China's industrial land production efficiency (ILPE). This study aims to investigate the overall role, heterogeneous impact and indirect mechanism of IIT in improving Chinese ILPE. This paper uses the Directional Distance Functions - Data Envelope Analysis (DDF-DEA) model to measure ILPE, economic output efficiency, and pollution reduction efficiency, the Global Malmquist Luenberger (GML) index to decompose the growth of ILPE into “technical efficiency change (EC)” and “technological change (TC)”. The panel data of Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2018 and the Fixed-Effect model is used to examine the impact of IIT on ILPE. The primary outcomes suggest that participation in IIT has generally improved the ILPE in China. This promotion effect is evident after 2010, and IIT has a significant impact on the improvement of ILPE in extensive and inefficient areas. Similarly, IIT promotes the economic output efficiency of industrial land from the perspective of expected output and reduces unexpected output. This impact helps in improving pollution reduction efficiency of industrial land. The technology spillover brought by IIT improves the Chinese ILPE from two channels, including promoting technological progress and improving technical efficiency. However, the technology spillover mainly promotes the ILPE in land use high-efficient areas by promoting technological progress. Likewise, the ILPE is promoted by improving technical efficiency from a regional perspective in extensive and inefficient areas. This study provides valuable insights for the improvement of ILPE to optimize land resources.

International technology spillovers and innovation quality: Evidence from China

International technology spillovers have important impacts on innovation quality. In this paper, we integrate three main sources of international technology spillovers – imports, inward foreign direct investment (FDI), and outward FDI – into the framework of China’s innovation quality. Accordingly, we empirically investigate the characteristics and channels of international technology spillovers that affect innovation quality. We find that, first, overall, the main sources of international technology spillovers that can significantly affect China’s innovation quality focus on imports and outward FDI, especially imports, which plays a more dominant role; second, the characteristics of technology spillovers vary across different regions, that is, imports promote innovation quality more significantly in eastern and western China than in the central region, where only outward FDI affects innovation quality significantly; third, the channels of these three kinds of international technology spillovers that affect innovation quality cannot be separated from R&D capital investment and R&D personnel input. Our study not only enriches the extant literature about international technology spillovers affecting innovation quality but also sheds light on how to achieve high-quality economic development in China.

Global production network, technology spillover, and shock transmission

ABSTRACT This study presents a new method to analyse the impact of exogenous shock and its transmission mechanism within the global production network, based on scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic. We decompose domestic and international technology spillovers and introduce them into an economic growth model to investigate the elasticities of factor inputs and knowledge spillovers through industrial linkages, and eventually estimate a model with spatial specifications. The results from the scenario simulations suggest that the global total output is projected to fall by 3.60% and 8.41% under the V-shaped and L-shaped recovery scenarios, respectively, and that the propagation through input-output linkages is an important channel that causes global economic fluctuations. Economies at the hub of the production network, that is, the United States, China, and Germany, are the most seriously affected. Structural decomposition analysis results indicate that the shortage of intermediate inputs supply is the main driver of output decline, followed by the blockage of technology diffusion, and lastly, the reduction of labour supply.

Industry 4.0: technology spillover impact on digital manufacturing industry

PurposeUnder the guidance of the concept of openness and development, the paper grasps the mechanism of technology spillover in developed countries and analyzes how to better absorb advanced manufacturing technology based on empirical analysis so as to point out the path for the transformation and development of China’s digital manufacturing industry.Design/methodology/approachThe paper constructs the panel data model and further analyzes the impact of international technology spillovers on the transformation and development of the digital manufacturing industry.FindingsThis paper measures the level of technology spillover in the Yangtze River Delta region and finds that foreign direct investment (FDI) technology spillover and import trade technology spillover among four provinces and cities show a growth trend from 2010 to 2017. But after 2017, there is a certain degree of decline.Originality/valueWith the advent of industry 4.0, the digital manufacturing industry of all countries in the world is developing with a new attitude, the global technology spillover methods are diverse and the spillover channels have changed greatly, which will affect the transformation and upgrading of China's digital manufacturing industry.

Cross-national knowledge transfer, absorptive capacity, and total factor productivity: the intermediary effect test of international technology spillover

ABSTRACT Knowledge has become the most important factor of production with the emergence of the knowledge economy. We use the system GMM estimation method to analyze how cross-national knowledge transfer (CNKT) impacts the total factor productivity (TFP) of China’s 31 provinces and evolution of China’s ability to absorb foreign knowledge. We also examine the possible intermediary effects of foreign direct investment (FDI), outward FDI, import trade, export trade, and direct technology spillovers between CNKT and TFP. We find that: (1) CNKT improves China’s TFP and positively impacts FDI, import trade, export trade, and direct technology spillover; It shows that CNKT not only helps to improve China’s TFP, but also provides innovative knowledge reserve for the absorption of international technology spillovers. (2) The improvement in the domestic infrastructure construction level, R&D capacity, human capital, economic development and openness has obvious absorption effect on CNKT, which is conducive to the absorption and utilisation of international advanced knowledge. (3) FDI, import trade, and direct technology spillover play a partial mediating role between CNKT and TFP, and the intermediary effect of import trade technology spillover is the strongest.

How Does International Technology Spillover Affect China’s Carbon Emissions? A New Perspective Through Intellectual Property Protection

Environmental problems caused by climate change have become increasingly prominent, and the important role of technological advancement in reducing environmental pollution is receiving more attention. Under the conditions of an open economy, multi-channel international technology spillover has become an important way to improve a country’s technological innovation capabilities. Based on the establishment of China’s intellectual property protection (IPP) system, this paper integrates trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) into a unified international technology spillover framework and analyzes how international technology spillovers affect China’s carbon emissions at different IPP levels. The results demonstrate that Trade, FDI, and OFDI increase regional carbon emissions and that trade has the greatest effect on carbon emissions’ growth. The regression results of the dynamic threshold demonstrate that as the regional IPP level exceeds the threshold, trade technology spillovers can reduce carbon emission, and that FDI and OFDI further increase carbon emissions. The impact of IPP and international technology spillovers on carbon emissions has regional heterogeneity in China. For the eastern and central regions, the interaction of international technology spillovers and IPP increases carbon emissions, while it has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions in the western region. Therefore, to fully realize the role of international technology spillovers and IPP in reducing car- bon emissions, China should implement differentiated IPP and international technology spillover policies.

How does international technology spillover affect China's carbon emissions? A new perspective through intellectual property protection

Abstract Environmental problems caused by climate change have become increasingly prominent, and the important role of technological advancement in reducing environmental pollution is receiving more attention. Under the conditions of an open economy, multi-channel international technology spillover has become an important way to improve a country's technological innovation capabilities. Based on the establishment of China's intellectual property protection (IPP) system, this paper integrates trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) into a unified international technology spillover framework and analyzes how international technology spillovers affect China's carbon emissions at different IPP levels. The results demonstrate that Trade, FDI, and OFDI increase regional carbon emissions and that trade has the greatest effect on carbon emissions’ growth. The regression results of the dynamic threshold demonstrate that as the regional IPP level exceeds the threshold, trade technology spillovers can reduce carbon emission, and that FDI and OFDI further increase carbon emissions. The impact of IPP and international technology spillovers on carbon emissions has regional heterogeneity in China. For the eastern and central regions, the interaction of international technology spillovers and IPP increases carbon emissions, while it has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions in the western region. Therefore, to fully realize the role of international technology spillovers and IPP in reducing carbon emissions, China should implement differentiated IPP and international technology spillover policies.

TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION TOWARDS EMERGING MARKETS: A COMPARATIVE PANEL DATA ANALYSIS

This study aims to reveal how absorbable foreign direct investment (FDI) and macroeconomic performance affect technology diffusion along with patent applications, imports and human capital in 14 selected emerging markets (EMs) between 1980-2017. To do this, a new approach for indexing macroeconomic performance is suggested and a strongly balanced panel was investigated with two different econometric approaches. Key findings are as follows: (i) suggested macroeconomic performance index performs well under pooled mean group and dynamic common correlated effects estimations and proves the importance of macroeconomic outlook for developing countries, (ii) the positive effect of human capital on total factor productivity turns to negative when common factors are included in the estimation, meaning that international technology spillovers are a key source of productivity increases for developing countries.

Marketisation as a channel of international technology diffusion and green total factor productivity: research on the spillover effect from China’s first-tier cities

ABSTRACT Latecomer technology imitation and learning is an important driving force to enhance their competitiveness and total factor productivity (TFP). This paper constructs green TFP (GTFP) based on the SBM–Global–Luenberger index, using Chinese provincial panel data from 2003 to 2017. The marginal effects of foreign direct investment (FDI), outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), import and export, and intangible and total international technology spillovers (ITS) on GTFP were assessed. These effects were analysed under the influence of absorption capabilities such as research and development intensity, economic and financial, and openness. A spatial diffusion model based on three diffusion sources in China’s first-tier cities, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, was constructed to describe the heterogeneous impacts of ITS on GTFP under the marketisation of diffusion sources. We found: (1) ITS based on exports and OFDI promote economic, imports and FDI are relatively small, independent technological innovation is the dominant source of economic growth. (2) Considering spatial diffusion, the contribution of Beijing’s ITS is relatively weak, and Shanghai’s contribution is stronger. Coastal areas have the largest marginal effect of ITS on GTFP, and ITS do not attenuate as geographic distances increase. (3) The market has a multiplier effect, modifying the relationship between ITS and GTFP.

Regulations and technology gap in Europe: The role of firm dynamics

Abstract In this paper, we develop a new firm-level measure of distance to the productivity frontier that accounts for international technology spillovers stemming from the use of imported intermediate goods. The trade-weighted technological distance to frontier is matched with sector- and country-level data on regulation and firm dynamics (entry and exit rates) of 16 European countries. Using our measure of trade-adjusted technology gap, we investigate the role of labour, capital, and product market regulatory frameworks in the technology catch-up process, gauging the effect of firms’ dynamics in mediating and moderating the impact of regulation on the technology gap. Our study offers a novel perspective and insights to the analysis of the link between framework conditions and technological distance to frontier. While most scholars argue that less regulation always favours productivity growth and the diffusion of technology, our results provide a more nuanced picture. Deregulation is not a one-size-fits-all solution that leads to faster technology diffusion, instead heterogeneity in business dynamism and countries’ regulatory structures need to be considered.

Threshold effect of international technology spillovers on China's regional economic growth

ABSTRACT This study uses China's provincial panel data for 2003–2016 to estimate the turning point of technology spillovers promoting economic growth in the coastal and inland areas. The results show that the turning point in coastal areas is significantly higher than that in inland areas. However, improved absorptive capacity as a result of regional disparity increases the threshold of technology spillovers from promotion to suppression in inland areas but decreases it in coastal areas. Then, this study further tests the threshold characteristics of absorptive capacity factors influencing international technology spillovers using a double-threshold regression model and estimates the threshold values of both forward and reverse spillovers from the viewpoint of knowledge context, economic development, opening degree and human resources infrastructure. In conclusion, the effect of absorptive capacity factors on international spillovers is nonlinear, that is, when absorptive capacity factors are between the two threshold values, technology spillovers are maximised.

Using panel VAR to analyze international knowledge spillovers

AbstractTechnology diffusion often plays a critical role in models of trade and economic growth. Most existing empirical tests for international technology spillovers suggest some role for spillovers in explaining productivity growth. It has been relatively difficult, however, to identify separate roles for the direct and indirect channels of knowledge spillovers. The influence of these channels is often confounded owing to the focus on total‐factor productivity (TFP) and R&D spending within a cross‐section or panel data setting. This paper employs an alternative methodology to investigate the role of direct knowledge spillovers. Using citation‐weighted domestic patents, citation‐weighted foreign patents and value added for 14 U.S. manufacturing industries over the period 1977 to 2004 a panel VAR methodology is employed to investigate the dynamic role of direct and indirect knowledge spillovers. Evidence for the role of the direct knowledge spillovers channel is found—an increase in citation‐weighted patents abroad directly increases the measure of domestic citation‐weighted patents, after accounting for the influence of productivity/value added. The role of foreign innovative activity, however, is small relative to the role of U.S. innovative activity in explaining the dynamics of industry value added.