The Effects of Technology Spillover on the Economic Growth of Iran’s Sports Industry

Background. The sports industry plays an important role in the progress of the economy in developed countries. The role of technology is remarkable in the enhancement of the economy. Objectives. The present study investigates the effects of technology spillover on the economic growth of Iran’s sports industry through import of intermediate and capital goods for the period from 1974 to 2012. Methods. The research method was econometrics and autoregressive distributed lag model was used. To do so, the following categories of data was analyzed by Eviews software: value added to cultural, recreational and sports services; current and construction expenditures of the government compared to the GDP (government size); import of intermediate and capital goods; capital stock of sports and active economic population of the sports section. Results. The results of model estimation showed that technology spillover has a significant and positive effect on the economic growth of Iran’s sports industry (p<0.05) both in the short and the long term. The error correction model also indicated a speedy movement of distortions and imbalances towards the longterm equilibrium. Conclusion. The findings show that import of capital and intermediate goods creates the context for increased productivity in Iran’s sports sector by facilitating access to the required intermediate agent and global technologies for organizations.