Economic gains from technology-intensive trade: an empirical assessment

National investment in technological activity is commonly justified in term s of the positive impacts upon productivity, international competitiveness and related aspects of national economic performance. This premise has foun d a supportive theoretical framework in the new technology and growth model s. Based on extended technology-gap models, this study examines cross-count ry empirical evidence on the relationship between technology-intensive trad e performance (as a proxy for technological output) and per capita economic performance, utilising 1978 to 1992 data for around 45 nations. The result s provide some support for a positive relationship between trade performanc e and economic returns. However, the weak and often inconsistent results su ggest that the unconditional pursuit of technology-intensive trade improvem ents may not necessarily have the expected net benefits. JEL classification s: O33, O57, F10.