High-tech exports and economic growth in industrialized countries

Abstract

The present article provides new evidence on the impact of the change in the high-tech export share on economic growth in OECD countries. We estimate a dynamic growth model on panel data for 22 OECD countries for 1980–2004, in which the data is measured as 5-year averages. Using the system GMM panel estimator, which corrects for simultaneity, we find that both business R&D intensity and the share of high-tech exports are significantly positively related to the GDP per working age population. The estimated elasticities are rather sizable but the magnitude suggests that business R&D intensity is more important than the share of high-tech exports in explaining GDP per working age population.

Acknowledgment

The financial support from OeNB Jubiläumsfonds is gratefully acknowledged

Notes

¹  Table A1 in appendix provides summary statistics (i.e. means of the variables over time, SDs for the total sample) as well as the data sources.

² Because of the outlier correction, the coefficient on the share of high-tech exports is slightly increasing; while the coefficient for business R&D intensity remains similar. Empirical results based on the complete sample are available from the author upon request.