This paper presents a model of international trade in differentiated intermediate goods. Because intermediates are invented through costly R&D investments, employing foreign intermediates implies sharing the return to R&D with the inventor country. I first derive a relation of how domestic productivity is related to foreign R&D investments. In the subsequent empirical analysis, industry level data for eight OECD countries between 1970-91 is used to estimate that relation. The robustness of interpreting empirical findings is emphasized, to which effect I employ Monte-Carlo techniques, and the part of international R&D spillovers that is related to trade is quantified. I find evidence, first, that domestic and foreign R&D affect productivity differently, in contrast to assuming symmetric effects. Second, the productivity effects resulting from R&D vary substantially by which country conducts the R&D. Third, I find that the composition of a country's import partners does not significantly affect the estimated effect from foreign R&D, indicating a large component in the benefit from foreign R&D which is not related to trade. Lastly, I estimate that international trade contributes about 20% to the total productivity effect from foreign R&D.
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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series International Trade with number
9702001.
Length: 18 pages Date of creation: 25 Feb 1997 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpit:9702001
Note: Type of Document - Tex; prepared on IBM PC - PC-TEX; to print on HP and PostScript; pages: 18; figures: request from author Contact details of provider: Web page: http://129.3.20.41
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Find related papers by JEL classification: F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business O3 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change O4 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
References listed on IDEAS 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.:
Coe, David T & Helpman, Elhanan & Hoffmaister, Alexander, 1995.
"North-South R&D Spillovers,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
1133, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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David T. Coe & Elhanan Helpman & Alexander Hoffmaister, 1995.
"North-South R&D Spillovers,"
NBER Working Papers
5048, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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