Premium
National Externalities and Path‐dependence in Technological Change: An Empirical Test
Author(s) -
Mancusi Maria Luisa
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2011.00893.x
Subject(s) - externality , economics , technological change , relevance (law) , path (computing) , path dependence , empirical evidence , process (computing) , economic geography , econometrics , industrial organization , microeconomics , macroeconomics , computer science , political science , programming language , philosophy , epistemology , law , operating system
This paper provides an empirical assessment of the relevance of the hypothesis of increasing returns and path‐dependence in technological development by looking at its implications on the evolution of the technological specialization profiles of advanced countries. A recontracting process is used to formalize the idea that when national externalities are strong, countries should display the tendency to specialize in selected technologies. No evidence of such tendency towards increasing specialization is found in the data.