Transfer of Technology to Developing Countries: Unilateral and Multilateral Policy Options

The authors analyze national and international policy options to encourage the international transfer of technology, distinguishing between four major channels of such transfer: trade in products, trade in knowledge, foreign direct investment, and intra-national and international movement of people. They develop a typology of country types and appropriate policy rules of thumb as a guide to both national policymakers and rule making in the World Trade Organization, as policies should differentiate between countries. The authors also develop some rules of thumb for policy intervention. These include: 1) Liberal trade policies for all types of countries; 2) Temporary encouragement of foreign direct investment inflows for low-income countries; 3) Licensing for technical transformation and adaptive investments by local firms to apply technologies; 4) Policy options for source economies to encourage international transfer of technology to poor countries, including fiscal incentives, improvement of flows of public-domain technologies with appropriate subsidies, and price differentiation for exports of intellectual property products.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Maskus, Keith E., Hoekman, Bernard M., Saggi, Kamal
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2004-06
Subjects:	TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS, POPULATION MOBILITY, TRADE LIBERALIZATION, TRADE POLICIES, TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS, FISCAL INCENTIVE POLICIES, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ACCESS TO CAPITAL, ADAPT TECHNOLOGY, AGRICULTURE, ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION, BALANCE OF PAYMENTS, BIOTECHNOLOGIES, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, CAPITAL GOODS, CAPITAL MARKETS, COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE, CONSUMERS, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, E-COMMERCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC VALUE, EMPLOYMENT, ENGINEERING, EXPENDITURES, EXPORTS, EXTERNALITIES, EXTERNALITY, FOREIGN INVESTMENT, FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY, GROWTH MODELS, HUMAN CAPITAL, IMPERFECT COMPETITION, IMPORTS, INCENTIVE EFFECTS, INCOME, INCREASING RETURNS, INDUSTRIALIZATION, INEFFICIENCY, INFORMATION PROBLEMS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INTERMEDIATE GOODS, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, INTERNATIONAL TRADE, INVENTIONS, INVESTMENT INCENTIVES, KNOW-HOW, LABOR FORCE, LDCS, LEARNING, LOW INCOME, LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES, MARGINAL COST, MARKET FAILURES, MARKET POWER, MULTILATERAL TRADE, MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES, NEW PRODUCTS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW TECHNOLOGY, OPEN MARKETS, PATENTS, PER CAPITA INCOME, POLICY INSTRUMENTS, POLICY RESEARCH, POSITIVE EXTERNALITIES, POSITIVE SPILLOVERS, PRIVATE SECTOR, PRODUCERS, PRODUCTION PROCESSES, PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES, PRODUCTIVITY, PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH, PROGRAMS, PROPERTY RIGHTS, PUBLIC GOODS, RECIPIENT COUNTRIES, RESEARCH CENTERS, ROYALTIES, SPILLOVERS, TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, TECHNOLOGICAL INFORMATION, TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION, TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION, TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION, TECHNOLOGY MARKETS, TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY, TRADE BARRIERS, TRADE NEGOTIATIONS, TRANSACTIONS COSTS, TRANSITION ECONOMIES, UNIVERSITIES, VERTICAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, WTO,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/06/4984702/transfer-technology-developing-countries-unilateral-multilateral-policy-options https://hdl.handle.net/10986/14181
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!