Globalization of Technology International Perspectives (1988) / Chapter Skim
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Technology and the World Economy: The Case of the American Hemisphere
Technology and the World Economy: The Case of the American Hemisphere
Pages 141-158
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From page 141... ...
From a strictly economic standpoint, the heightened struggle between the two superpowers diverts resources that both countries could more usefully apply to the problems of their relationships with other countries. The development of the Latin American and Caribbean countries is affected by these continuously changing international influences.
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From page 142... ...
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN IN THE WORLD ECONOMY A notable feature in the development of the world economy is the persistent inequality of the Latin American and Caribbean countnes' economic weight. The gross domestic product of the United States, the Soviet Union, or Japan is 1,000 times larger than those of the small countnes of the world, and up to 10,000 times larger than those of the smallest national economies.
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From page 143... ...
THE CASE OF TlIE AMERICAN HEMISPHERE TABLE 1 Economic Magnitude of 120 Countries Measured by Gross National Product, 1982 (in U
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From page 144... ...
At the same time, the first group experiences trade wars and struggles that create difficulties for the developing countries, particularly when these events lead to trade and technology protection measures that produce unfavorable shifts in international trade. TABLE 2 Breakdown of World Gross Domestic Product by Groups of Countries, 1960 and 1982 Percentage of World Gross Domestic Product in: Countries 1960 1982 Developed countries 65.8 64.8 Centrally planned economies 19.8 19.0 Developing countries 10.2 10.8 Latin America 4.2 5.3 SOURCES: Organization of American States and the World Bank.
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From page 145... ...
Also desirable is a dual strategy for outward growth, with optimum participation in the international economy and, within the region, through subregional and national markets. Both inward and outward growth will require improved technological capacity, entrepreneurial activity, and rational government participation.
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From page 146... ...
Thus, the ratio of research and development expenditures to gross domestic product was only 0.24 percent in the region at the start of the 1980s, compared with 1.8 to 2.3 percent for most of the larger industrialized countries. The per capita cost of R&D in these countries was $200, whereas the average for Latin America was less than $5 (Norman, 19811.
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From page 147... ...
PARTICIPATION OF THE REGION'S COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD ECONOMY The economies of the Latin American and Caribbean countries participate in the world economy mainly through foreign trade. Other economic growth
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From page 148... ...
While those countries took the lead and assumed a growing weight in the world economy, the countries of Latin America lagged behind. By 1940, the developed countries were establishing and maintaining decisive advantages and influences over Latin American and Caribbean countries in technology, education, culture, politics, and defense.
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From page 149... ...
In the outward growth phase, the asymmetry of the region's trade in terms of global technological innovation underwent a transition. Latin America began to export products with a relatively low degree of technological sophistication, although they were not necessarily raw materials, whereas its imports from advanced countries had a larger content of new technology.
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From page 150... ...
The rate of capital investment in the region is a third factor affecting Latin American and Caribbean countries' ability to use technology and develop productive export sectors. Most of the machinery and equipment used by companies in the region are worn out or outdated, and solving this problem would be costly.
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From page 151... ...
A fourth factor giving impetus to exports and economic growth is that the Latin American and Caribbean countries have a wide range of raw materials, whose transformation into processed products using recent scientific advances could be a nucleus of new technological and industrial development. This is particularly important for the small countries, which need open economies and specialization even more so than do the larger and middle-size countries in the region.
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From page 152... ...
However, this does not occur in Latin American and Caribbean countries, which produce few capital goods or critical basic intermediary goods. Since the countries of the region must import such means of production, the technical change produces unemployment that is not reabsorbed.
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From page 153... ...
Moreover, the limited domestic capacity for producing capital goods hampers solving these problems through massive and cheap production of products for the domestic market or the penetration of larger foreign market areas by new nontraditional exports such as semimanufactured products and electronic components. Thus, the measures that Latin American and Caribbean countries take to solve crises must consider both economic elements and their structural roots.
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From page 154... ...
The Regional Scientific and Technological Development Program of the GAS has oriented its projects toward increasing technological capacity. Despite limited resources, it has been active throughout the hemisphere, responding to the interests of smaller and relatively less developed countries, through science and technology projects linked to their specific degree and form of development such as aquaculture and the use of land and biotic local resources with economic potential.
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From page 155... ...
· In the production sectors: Lack of awareness of national technological capacity; strong aversion to risk, especially in technological innovation; and indifference to improving technical conditions of production. · In the public sector: Economic policy measures that do not encourage the use of local technological capacity; flawed policy implementation
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From page 156... ...
The consortia would encourage the manufacture of advanced technology products, drawing on the scientific and technological capacity and production of Latin America and the Caribbean. · Modification of the most-favored-nation clause to include the particular characteristics of commercial exchanges of technology, and adapting norms of conduct agreed on internationally for foreign investment and the operation of multinational corporations to the conditions of the mixed consortia indicated above.
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From page 157... ...
Third, efforts should be made to carry out all aspects of technological development: research and development, experimenting in pilot plants, preparing for commercial application of technological innovation, negotiating of financial backing, and marketing the final process or product. Government Policy on Science and Technology In Latin America and the Caribbean, government is an important promoter of scientific and technological development.
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From page 158... ...
1983. Bottlenecks to Latin American Industrial Development.
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