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Trade, scale or social capital? Technological progress in poor and rich countries

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  • João Tovar Jalles
  • Jose Tavares

Abstract

Endogenous growth theory suggests scale and trade as the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) growth. The literature on social capital suggests that the levels of trust and participation in societies may affect cooperation and innovation. While there is evidence of the role of trade and inconclusive evidence on the role of social capital, previous studies have generally omitted two factors, out of the three mentioned, used small sample sizes and emphasized economic growth rather than technological progress. Our study addresses these shortcomings. We find robust evidence of the role of trade in fostering technological progress which is invariant to TFP proxies and independent of the debate on measuring TFP. Moreover, there is no clear role for scale, and a country rate of TFP growth seems to increase the most the more the country trades with dynamic economies that are different from. We uncover a positive effect of social capital, which is more significant in richer countries, suggesting that other characteristics, such as institutional quality, may be complementary to social capital. The paper's results are robust to different specification and estimation methods.

Suggested Citation

  • João Tovar Jalles & Jose Tavares, 2015. "Trade, scale or social capital? Technological progress in poor and rich countries," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(6), pages 767-808, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jitecd:v:24:y:2015:i:6:p:767-808
    DOI: 10.1080/09638199.2014.969757
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mr. Francis Fukuyama, 2000. "Social Capital and Civil Society," IMF Working Papers 2000/074, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1997. "I Just Ran Two Million Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 178-183, May.
    3. Quentin Grafton & Stephen Knowles & P. Dorian Owen, 2001. "Social Divergence and Economic Performance," Working Papers 0103E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. İ. Semih Akçomak & Hanna Müller-Zick, 2018. "Trust and inventive activity in Europe: causal, spatial and nonlinear forces," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(3), pages 529-568, May.
    2. Urszula Markowska-Przybyła, 2020. "Does Social Capital Matter for Total Factor Productivity? Exploratory Evidence from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-25, November.
    3. Hübler, Michael & Pothen, Frank, 2017. "Trade-induced productivity gains reduce incentives to impose strategic tariffs," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 420-431.

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