Strategic Technology Investments in Open Economies

Arbeitspapier

We study a general equilibrium model of international trade with heterogeneous firms, where countries can strategically invest in technology. The countries' motive is to improve firms' productivity, leading to a competitive advantage in international trade. We are interested in how trade liberalization affects this governmental incentive to invest in technology. In the closed economy countries invest if consumers have a sufficiently high preference for varieties. In the open economy we analyze the Nash-equilibrium policy and the cooperative policy. If there are no cross-country investment spillovers, countries strategically compete in their investment levels and increase their investments with higher trade openness. From a social perspective we have an overinvestment problem. If there are cross-country investment spillovers, we differentiate between weak and strong spillovers. In both cases the cooperative solution predicts a positive relationship between investments and trade openness. If there are weak (strong) spillovers, we find a positive (hump-shaped) relationship between technology investments and trade openness in the Nash-equilibrium. From a social perspective we obtain an over (under)-investment problem if spillovers are weak (strong).

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-86788-225-5
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Ruhr Economic Papers ; No. 199

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation ; Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
• Subject: heterogeneous firms ; technology investments ; monopolistic competition ; strategic trade policy

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bohnstedt, Anna ; Schwarz, Christian
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI)
• (where): Essen
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/45317
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET