The impact of trade liberalisation on technological upgrading

The impacts of trade liberalisation on technological
development are of outmost importance due to their
dynamic long-term effects on the economy. However,
this issue has sparked controversy. This book
reviews the arguments and organises them in two
propositions. The more optimistic one (mainly the
new growth theory views) focuses primarily on the
broadening of access to international up-to-date
sources. The more sceptical one points to the need
of firms in developing countries to achieve
indigenous capabilities in order to adopt available
technology and benefit from it, and questions the
ability of local firms to profit from their
innovative efforts when competing with imports from
technologically superior producers. Trade, it
argues, might threaten the success of firms in both
regards. This book is an attempt to weigh the
benefits under the first proposition against the
negative effects stemming from the second, by using
a Schumpeterian model of technological upgrading.
The theoretical arguments are illustrated with
statistics from Argentina during the 1990s.

Autorentext
Researcher in economics of innovation at CONICET/CENIT- Argentina. She holds a PhD from SPRU-U. of Sussex and a MSc from LSE. Her research topics are on determinants of firms' innovative behaviour. In particular, about the role of the social context and of public/private partnerships in innovation systems of developing countries.

Klappentext
The impacts of trade liberalisation on technological development are of outmost importance due to their dynamic long-term effects on the economy. However, this issue has sparked controversy. This book reviews the arguments and organises them in two propositions. The more optimistic one (mainly the new growth theory views) focuses primarily on the broadening of access to international up-to-date sources. The more sceptical one points to the need of firms in developing countries to achieve indigenous capabilities in order to adopt available technology and benefit from it, and questions the ability of local firms to profit from their innovative efforts when competing with imports from technologically superior producers. Trade, it argues, might threaten the success of firms in both regards. This book is an attempt to weigh the benefits under the first proposition against the negative effects stemming from the second, by using a Schumpeterian model of technological upgrading. The theoretical arguments are illustrated with statistics from Argentina during the 1990s.