IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/3886.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Leapfrogging: A Theory of Cycles in National Technological Leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Elise Brezis
  • Paul Krugman
  • Daniel Tsiddon

Abstract

Much recent work has suggested that endogenous technological change tends to reinforce the position of the leading nations. Yet from time to time this leadership role shifts. We suggest a mechanism that explains this pattern of -leapfrogging- as a response to occasional major changes in technology. When such a change occurs, leading nations may have no incentive to adopt the new ideas; given their extensive experience with older technologies, the new ideas do not initially seem to be an improvement. Lagging nations, however, have less experience; the new techniques offer them an opportunity to use their lower wages, to break into the market. If the new techniques eventually prove to be more productive than the old, there is a reversal of leadership.

Suggested Citation

  • Elise Brezis & Paul Krugman & Daniel Tsiddon, 1991. "Leapfrogging: A Theory of Cycles in National Technological Leadership," NBER Working Papers 3886, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3886
    Note: ITI IFM
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w3886.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    2. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bo Becker & Victoria Ivashina, 2023. "Disruption and Credit Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(1), pages 105-139, February.
    2. Hans W. Gottinger, 2001. "Technological Races in Global Industries (Technology Races)," CSEF Working Papers 62, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    3. Oded Galor & Omer Moav & Dietrich Vollrath, 2009. "Inequality in Landownership, the Emergence of Human-Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 143-179.
    4. Simons, Alexandre, 2014. "How does technology transfer affect backward linkages? A motivating example theoretical analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 94-105.
    5. Brezis, Elise S & Krugman, Paul R, 1997. "Technology and the Life Cycle of Cities," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 369-383, December.
    6. repec:bla:econom:v:66:y:1999:i:262:p:209-24 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. de Groot, H.L.F. & van Schaik, A.B.T.M., 1997. "Unemployment and catching up : Europe vis à vis the USA," Other publications TiSEM da7dcf42-9007-43df-a948-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. van de Klundert, Theo & Smulders, Sjak, 2001. "Loss of technological leadership of rentier economies: a two-country endogenous growth model," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 211-231, June.
    9. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1994. "Quality Improvements in Models of Growth," NBER Working Papers 4610, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Mountford, Andrew, 1998. "Trade, convergence and overtaking," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 167-182, October.
    11. Han, Junhee & Lee, Keun, 2022. "Heterogeneous technology and specialization for economic growth beyond the middle-income stage," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    12. Arnold, Lutz G., 2003. "Growth in stages," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 55-74, March.
    13. Lynne G. Zucker & Michael R. Darby, 1995. "Present at the Revolution: Transformation of Technical Identity for a Large Incumbent Pharmaceutical Firm After the Biotechnological Breakthrough," NBER Working Papers 5243, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. B. Bhaskara Rao & Arusha Cooray, 2012. "How useful is growth literature for policies in the developing countries?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(6), pages 671-681, February.
    2. Alessandro STERLACCHINI, 2006. "Innovation, Knowledge and Regional Economic Performances: Regularities and Differences in the EU," Working Papers 260, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    3. João Pereira & Aurora Galego, 2014. "Inter-Regional Wage Differentials in Portugal: An Analysis Across the Wage Distribution," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(9), pages 1529-1546, September.
    4. Bloom, David E. & Canning, David & Kotschy, Rainer & Prettner, Klaus & Schünemann, Johannes, 2024. "Health and economic growth: Reconciling the micro and macro evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    5. Sunde, Uwe & Cervellati, Matteo, 2007. "Human Capital, Mortality and Fertility: A Unified Theory of the Economic and Demographic Transition," CEPR Discussion Papers 6384, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Cui, Dan & Wei, Xiang & Wu, Dianting & Cui, Nana & Nijkamp, Peter, 2019. "Leisure time and labor productivity: A new economic view rooted from sociological perspective," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 13, pages 1-24.
    7. Maurice Schiff & Yanling Wang, 2010. "North-South Technology Spillovers: The Relative Impact of Openness and Foreign R&D," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 197-207.
    8. Madsen, Jakob B., 2010. "The anatomy of growth in the OECD since 1870," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 753-767, September.
    9. Bibhudutta Panda, 2017. "Schooling and productivity growth: evidence from a dual growth accounting application to U.S. states," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 193-221, December.
    10. Ponticelli, Jacopo & Bustos, Paula & Castro-Vincenzi, Juan & Monras, Joan, 2018. "Industrialization without Innovation," CEPR Discussion Papers 13379, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Oleg Badunenko & Diego Romero-�vila, 2014. "Productivity Growth across Spanish Regions and Industries: A Production-Frontier Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(7), pages 1242-1262, July.
    12. Prettner, Klaus, 2012. "Public education, technological change and economic prosperity: semi-endogenous growth revisited," VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 65414, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Durlauf, Steven N. & Quah, Danny T., 1999. "The new empirics of economic growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 235-308, Elsevier.
    14. Alejandro Díaz-Bautista & Jorge Eduardo Mendoza Cota, 2004. "Regional Convergence Of Income And Labor Productivity In Mexico," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 3(1), pages 3-20, Marzo 200.
    15. Ben-David, Dan & Loewy, Michael B, 1995. "Free Trade and Long-Run Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 1183, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Diaz-Bautista, Alejandro, 2002. "The role of telecommunications infrastructure and human capital: Mexico´s economic growth and convergence," ERSA conference papers ersa02p102, European Regional Science Association.
    17. Renelt, David, 1991. "Economic growth : a review of the theoretical and empirical literature," Policy Research Working Paper Series 678, The World Bank.
    18. Dur, Robert & Glazer, Amihai, 2008. "Subsidizing Enjoyable Education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 1023-1039, October.
    19. Claude DIEBOLT & Ralph HIPPE, 2017. "Regional human capital inequality in Europe in the long run, 1850-2010," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 45, pages 5-30.
    20. Drivas, Kyriakos & Economidou, Claire & Karamanis, Dimitrios & Sanders, Mark, 2020. "Mobility of highly skilled individuals and local innovation activity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3886. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.