Title: Trade, technology and national competition

Authors: Johny Zysman

Addresses: Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

Abstract: Trade between advanced countries during the present decade could be defined by intense mercantilistic competition in technology. The components of technological development policy, when taken together as a matter of how to generate and retain advantage in the technologies on which future development will rest, are the basis for conflict amongst the three regions of the western economy. Domestic discussions about how to promote innovation thus become an international debate about which nations will dominate critical technologies in the future, about fair trade, and about competing national development trajectories. This paper develops a pessimistic view. The foundations of this rivalry are already in place. The distinct national lines of technology development and approaches to innovation policy must be reconciled if an open international economy is to be fostered.

Keywords: mercantilism; R&D; research and development; technology conflict; technology development; fair trade; innovation policy; international economy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1992.025813

International Journal of Technology Management, 1992 Vol.7 No.1/2/3, pp.161 - 189

Published online: 24 May 2009 *

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