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Engines of Growth: Domestic and Foreign Sources of Innovation

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Author Info
Jonathan Eaton
Samuel Kortum

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Abstract

We examine productivity growth since World War II in the five leading research economies: West Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United States. Available data on the capital-output ratio suggest that these countries grew as they did because of their ability to adopt more productive technologies, not because of capital deepening per se. We present a multicountry model of technological innovation and diffusion which has the implication that, for a wide range of parameter values, countries converge to a common growth rate, with relative productivities depending on the speed with which countries adopt technologies developed at home and abroad. Using parameter values that fit a cross section of data on productivity, research, and patenting, we simulate the growth of the five countries, given initial productivity levels in 1950 and research efforts in the subsequent four decades. Based on plausible assumptions about 'technology gaps' that existed among these countries in 1950 we can explain their growth experiences quite successfully. Specifically, the simulations capture the magnitude of the slowdown in German, French, and Japanese productivity growth and the relative constancy of U.K. and U.S. growth.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5207.

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Date of creation: Aug 1995
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5207

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  15. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 1994. "International patenting and technology diffusion," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 94-35, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Jati Sengupta, 2003. "Stochastic Growth In Schumpeterian Dynamics," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series wp2-99, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
  2. Simon Gilchrist & John C. Williams, 2004. "Transition dynamics in vintage capital models: explaining the postwar catch-up of Germany and Japan," Working Papers in Applied Economic Theory 2004-14, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Marco Maffezzoli, 2000. "Human Capital and International Real Business Cycles," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(1), pages 137-165. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Keisuke Otsu, 2007. "A Neoclassical Analysis of the Postwar Japanese Economy," IMES Discussion Paper Series 07-E-01, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Hildegunn Ekroll Stokke, 2005. "Productivity Growth in Backward Economies and the Role of Barriers to Technology Adoption," Working Paper Series 4905, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. [Downloadable!]
  6. Yasmina Reem Limam & Stephen M. Miller, 2004. "Explaining Economic Growth: Factor Accumulation, Total Factor Productivity Growth, and Production Efficiency Improvement," Working papers 2004-20, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Lööf, Hans, 2007. "Technology Spillovers and Innovation - the importance of domestic and foreign sources," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 83, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, revised 29 Jun 2007. [Downloadable!]
  8. Nadiri, M.I. & Kim, S., 1996. "International R&D Spillovers, Trade and Productivity in Major OECD Countries," Working Papers 96-35, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
  9. Theo S Eicher & Klaas vant Veld, 2000. "Search in Research: An Evolutionary Approach to Technical Change and Growth"," Discussion Papers in Economics at the University of Washington 0005, Department of Economics at the University of Washington. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Andreas Kopp, 2000. "Openness, Intermediate Imports and Growth," Kiel Working Papers 996, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  11. Elias Dinopoulos & Constantinos Syropoulos, 2004. "Globalization, Factor Endowments,and Scale-Invariant Growth," Working Papers 0409, Florida International University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Kopp, Andreas, 2000. "City Size Distribution and Growth," Discussion Paper Series 26303, Hamburg Institute of International Economics. [Downloadable!]
  13. Paolo Guerrieri & Bernardo Maggi & Valentina Meliciani & Pier Carlo Padoan, 2005. "Technology Diffusion, Services, and Endogenous Growth in Europe. Is the Lisbon Strategy Useful?," IMF Working Papers 05/103, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  14. Lööf, Hans & Andersson, Martin, 2008. "Imports, Productivity and the Origin Markets -the role of knowledge-intensive economies," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 146, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies. [Downloadable!]
  15. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 2001. "Technology, Trade, and Growth: A Unified Fremework," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-110, Boston University - Department of Economics.
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  16. Hildegunn Ekroll Stokke & Jørn Rattsø, 2004. "Ramsey model of barriers to growth and skill-biased income distribution in South Africa," Working Paper Series 4604, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, revised 07 Feb 2005. [Downloadable!]
  17. Capolupo, Rosa, 2008. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics Discussion Papers 2008-27, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  18. Kaiji Chen & Ayse Imrohoroglu & Selo Imrohoroglu, 2005. "Japanese Saving Rate," Macroeconomics 0502017, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Yasushi Iwamoto & Akihisa Shibata, 2007. "International and Intergenerational Aspects of Capital Income Taxation in an Endogenously Growing World Economy," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-490, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
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