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International Business Travel and Technology Sourcing

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  • Nune Hovhannisyan
  • Wolfgang Keller

Abstract

Access to new foreign technology is often central to countries’ development strategies. However, we know very little about the quantitative impact of technology sourcing. In this paper, we study the role of outward international business travel for technology sourcing and innovation by examining whether patenting in European regions is affected by the number of business travelers heading to the United States. Using European regional patent data for the years 1996 to 2010 from Eurostat and information on incoming business travelers from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Survey of International Air Travelers, we find that controlling for a region’s R&D spending and size, innovation is increasing in the number of business travelers of the region to the United States. Technology sourcing through in-person business travel is not only statistically but economically significant, accounting, for example, for 20% of the higher patenting in Germany’s Greater Stuttgart area, compared to Portugal’s Algarve region.

Suggested Citation

  • Nune Hovhannisyan & Wolfgang Keller, 2019. "International Business Travel and Technology Sourcing," NBER Working Papers 25862, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25862
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    1. Keller, Wolfgang, 2000. "Do Trade Patterns and Technology Flows Affect Productivity Growth?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 14(1), pages 17-47, January.
    2. John Van Reenen & Rupert Harrison & Rachel Griffith, 2006. "How Special Is the Special Relationship? Using the Impact of U.S. R&D Spillovers on U.K. Firms as a Test of Technology Sourcing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1859-1875, December.
    3. Wolfgang Keller & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2009. "Multinational Enterprises, International Trade, and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Evidence from the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(4), pages 821-831, November.
    4. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    5. Keller, Wolfgang, 2010. "International Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Technology Spillovers," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 793-829, Elsevier.
    6. Nune Hovhannisyan & Wolfgang Keller, 2015. "International business travel: an engine of innovation?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 75-104, March.
    7. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2005. "Exporting raises productivity in sub-Saharan African manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 373-391, December.
    8. De Loecker, Jan, 2007. "Do exports generate higher productivity? Evidence from Slovenia," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 69-98, September.
    9. Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2004. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers Through Backward Linkages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 605-627, June.
    10. Xavier Fageda, 2017. "International Air Travel And Fdi Flows: Evidence From Barcelona," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 858-883, November.
    11. Kun Jiang & Wolfgang Keller & Larry D. Qiu & William Ridley, 2018. "International Joint Ventures and Internal vs. External Technology Transfer: Evidence from China," CESifo Working Paper Series 7065, CESifo.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mariacristina Piva & Massimiliano Tani & Marco Vivarelli, 2023. "The productivity impact of short-term labor mobility across industries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 691-705, February.
    2. Nune Hovhannisyan, 2019. "Comment on "Capturing International R&D Trade and Financing Flows: What Do Available Sources Reveal about the Structure of Knowledge-Based Global Production?"," NBER Chapters, in: Challenges of Globalization in the Measurement of National Accounts, pages 535-540, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hani Al-Dmour & Rima Al Hasan & Motasem Thneibat & Ra’ed Masa’deh & Wafa Alkhadra & Rand Al-Dmour & Ali Alalwan, 2023. "Integrated Model for the Factors Determining the Academic’s Remote Working Productivity and Engagement: Empirical Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, August.
    4. Bian, Bo & Meier, Jean-Marie & Xu, Ting, 2021. "Cross-Border Institutions and the Globalization of Innovation," LawFin Working Paper Series 23, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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