THE TECHNOLOGY GAP: ANALYSIS AND APPRAISAL,

Technological advance, as contrasted with or transcending increase in capital per worker, has been an extremely important source of growth. The main engine of manufacturing development is the creation of new technological knowledge, and its application, above all in the United States, and to a more limited extent in Europe and Japan. With a lag, the other major manufacturing countries pick up the new technology and learn to use it effectively. With a much greater lag, the less-developed countries do. Under this view, one would expect to find differences across countries in the productivity and composition of manufacturing activity that transcend differences in capital and other inputs per worker directly engaged in production. The fact that the United States is the leading country in creating and introducing new products and processes certainly is in part attributable to its past investment in the education of scientists and engineers, in research and development, and in other activities that feed technological progress. Author