Technology Transfers and International Competitiveness: The Case of Electronic Calculators

Abstract

International diffusion of production technologies, along with their creation, is increasingly recognized to cause dynamic changes in the pattern of international trade and investment. This paper seeks to develop a link between innovations, diffusions, and international competitiveness in electronic calculators in order to provide a greater understanding of this dynamic process. The major finding of the study is that changes in factor intensities were responsible for international migrations of electric calculator technology between the U.S. and Japan. Another significant finding is that there is indeed an association between technology transfers and international trade.