• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.1-22
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• 2023

Purpose - Southeast Asia has been the focus of Korea's foreign investment. Korea has been helping developing countries in Southeast Asia achieve economic growth and win-win cooperation through capital exports. FDI is an important channel for technology diffusion. However, the impact of FDI on the bias of technological progress in the host country is dependent on the host country's own endowment structure and capital-labor factor substitution elasticity. Therefore, the central issue of this paper is to accurately evaluate the impact of Korea's FDI to the four Southeast Asian countries in various industries on their bias of technological progress. Design/methodology - The paper uses macroeconomic data for Korea and four East Asian countries to estimate capital-labor factor elasticities of substitution using nonlinear, seemingly uncorrelated regressions (NLSUR). Then, the biased technological change index (BTCI) is calculated for each country. Finally, panel data analysis is used to explore the impact of Korean FDI in various industries in the four Southeast Asian countries on their own directed technological progress, and a robustness test is conducted. Findings - There is a substitution relationship between capital and labor factors based on their elasticity in Korea, Singapore and the Philippines. There is a complementary relationship between capital and labor factors in Indonesia and Malaysia. According to the BTCI, there is a trend toward labor-biased technological progress in all countries. Korean investments in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade in the host country trigger capital-biased technological change in the host country; investments in the finance, insurance and information and communication sectors trigger labor-biased technological change. In addition, this paper also confirms that directed technological progress can enable cross-country transmission. Originality/value - The innovation of this paper lies in three aspects. First, we estimate the BTCI for five countries and explore the trend and situation of directed technological progress in each country from each country's own perspective. Second, we explore the impact of Korean FDI in the host country on the bias to its technological progress at the industry level. Second, we explore the impact of Korean FDI in various industries in the four Southeast Asian countries on the four countries' own directed technological progress from a national perspective. Finally, we propose corresponding countermeasures for technological progress from the perspective of inverse factor endowment. These innovative points not only expand the understanding of technological progress and cross-country technology transfer in East Asia but also provide practical references for policy-makers and business operators.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.113-125
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• 2022

Purpose - The primary purpose of this study is to verify whether the target set out by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for reducing carbon emissions from ships can be achieved by quantitatively analyzing the trends in technological advances of fuel oil consumption in the container shipping market. To achieve this purpose, several scenarios are designed considering various options such as eco-friendly fuels, low-speed operation, and the growth in ship size. Design/methodology - The vessel size and speed used in prior studies are utilized to estimate the fuel oil consumption of container ships and the pace of technological progress and Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) regulations are added. A database of 5,260 container ships, as of 2019, is used for multiple linear regression and quantile regression analyses. Findings - The fuel oil consumption of vessels is predominantly affected by their speed, followed by their size, and the annual technological progress is estimated to be 0.57%. As the quantile increases, the influence of ship size and pace of technological progress increases, while the influence of speed and coefficient of EEDI variables decreases. Originality/value - The conservative estimation of carbon emission drawn by a quantitative analysis of the technological progress concerning the fuel efficiency of container vessels shows that it is not possible to achieve IMO targets. Therefore, innovative efforts beyond the current scope of technological progress are required.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.113-156
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• 2017

Although technological progress is considered a key element for economic growth and development of a country, strong empirical evidence in this regard is not available yet. Therefore, to establish the empirical link between technology progress and economic development, it is advisable to carry out a time series analysis. In this regard, the Technology Achievement Index (TAI) of 100 top economies has been developed to examine the position of countries' technological progress for the 21 years spanning 1995 to 2015. Countries have been ranked on their TAI which is based on four pillars; technology creation, diffusion of older innovations, diffusion of recent innovations, and development of human skills. As well, this current study re-calculates the Humane Development Index (HDI) of 100 top economies for the 21 years from 1995 to 2015. Ranking of countries' HDI values reflects three dimensions: A long lifespan (life expectancy index), knowledge (Education Index) and a decent standard of living (Gross National Income Index, or GNI). The Standard Deviation (SD) technique has been used to investigate the technological gap between individual countries and groups of countries or regions. For a more meaningful assessment, technological gaps from the maximum achievement value (i.e., one of the countries under study) are presented as well. To investigate the impact of technological progress on economic development, this study introduces a model in which the HDI is used as the dependent variable and the TAI and Gross Capital Formation (GCF) are used as independent variables. The HDI, TAI and GCF are used in this model as proxy variables for economic development, technological progress and capital respectively. Econometric techniques have been used to show the impact of technological progress on economic development. The results show that long-term associations exist between technology progress and economic development; the impact of technology progress on economic development is 13.2% while the impact is 4.3% higher in eight selected East South Asian countries, at 13.5%, than in eight selected highly developed countries (9.2%).

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1-24
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• 2007

In this study, we estimated a CES production function for the Korean economy. We have found in the empirical results that the elasticity of the factor substitution is less than one and that the Korean economy exhibits labor-saving technological progress. In addition, we obtained the regression coefficient of R&D investment on technological change, i.e., the elasticity of R&D investment with respect to the technological change was 0.26% point. It implies that if R&D stock increases by 1%, labor efficiency increases 0.26% point through technological progress which is Hicksian non-neutral. It confirms that innovation-based growth strategy by increasing R&D investment would be effective on the one hand. Some policy consideration on the other might be needed for an increase in employment which is offset by technological progress.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.1157-1174
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• 2005

This paper aims at examining the disembodied technological progress in the Korean IT service industry, on the assumption that competition leads to the disembodied technological progress. Hobijn model (2000) which abstracts the disembodied technological progress from the total technological progress and Bai et al. Model (1998, 2003) which identifies time of the technological structural change are used for empirical study. The empirical analysis indicates the major structural change in the pattern of the disembodied technology progress occurred after 1995 in the Korean IT service industry. This means that policies for the introduction of competition system and the industry promotion around 1995 have a positive effect on the development of the Korean IT service industry.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 2021

The main purpose of the present research is to analyze the effects of trade, financial globalization, and technological progress on income inequality in the Indian economy over the period from 1982 to 2018. For this purpose, the study uses economic growth, financial globalization, trade openness, technological development, and economic inequality variables with appropriate proxies. The study employs the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to co-integration and VECM based Granger causality approach to estimate both the short-run and long-run relationship and causality among variables. Using the ARDL bounds test, the study finds a long-run co-integrating relationship existing among the variables in the model. The study confirms the existence of a positive and significant impact of technological progress on income inequality. Further, globalization's limited impact reflects two offsetting tendencies; trade globalization is associated with a reduction in income inequality, while financial globalization is related to an increase in inequality. The results of VECM based Granger causality approach further confirm that technological progress, trade, and financial globalization causes income inequality both directly and indirectly through economic growth and inflation. In case of India, the results of this research can significantly facilitate stakeholders and policymakers in devising policies towards effective globalization and technological innovation for inclusive growth.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.15-23
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aims to identify the role of technological progress in the distribution sector in Saudi Arabia. Research design, data, and methodology: The study applies the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to estimate the Cobb Douglas production function of the wholesale and retail trade sector in Saudi Arabia, relied on annual data from the General Authority for Statistics from 2005 to 2019. Results: The results show that there is a long run relationship between the production of the wholesale and retail trade sector in KSA and the factors of production labour, capital and technology progress. The elasticity of the wholesale and retail trade production with respect to capital and labour are 0.26 and 0.78 respectively; the coefficients are positive and statistically significant. The wholesale and retail trade sector is operating under increasing returns to scale. The main result indicates that the elasticity of the wholesale and retail production with respect to the technology progress is 4.62%, which is positive and statistically significant. Conclusions: The study concluded that technological progress has a positive contribution to the growth of the distribution sector in KSA. Therefore, the technological progress can improve the productivity and efficiency of the resources allocated to the dis.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.53-85
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• 2012

This paper empirically investigates the rates of embodied technological change and their relative contributions to total factor productivity growth for manufacturing, using the Korean plant-level manufacturing data for the period of 1985-2003. We adopt a production-based estimation method proposed by Sakellaris and Wilson (2004) in order to examine the marginal productivity increase of each vintage of equipment over time. We find that the rate of embodied technological progress of Korea's manufacturing sector maintains the annual average level of 13.7 percent from 1985 to 2003, slightly lower than 16.9 percent of the U.S., estimated by Sakellaris & Wilson (2004). While the rate recorded a remarkable increase after the 1997 financial crisis, IT-producing and IT-using industries achieved higher rates of embodied technological progress than non-IT counterparts.

• Korean Business Review
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• v.11
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• pp.15-38
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• 1998

This study explores the evolution of technical innovation over time. It focuses on sectors of the information technology because this industry can be referred to as one of the most dynamic industries of all times. Following evolutionary theorists, we argue that technological change is gradual and that superior firms and technologies are reward by the' selection' environment. In the initial phase of the industry life cycle, technological change is expected to be radical and uncertainty is high. Over time a product or technology is likely to arise which stands out above all other products or technologies. These so-called 'basic designs' serve as sorts of 'technological guideposts' for further developments in the technology. Once a basic design established, technological progress tends to follow consistent paths or trajectories. The cumulative character of technological progress facilitates a rapid expansion of the boundaries of the technology until the natural limits of the technology are approached and technological progress slows down. Following ecological theories, supply-side developments in the industry are described on the basis of five different organizational types. On the basis of this pattern of market and technological evolution we came up with seven basic propositions.

• IE interfaces
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 2006

The main objective of this study is to analyze the structure of efficiency of R&D input variables and the attributes of patent information as output of R&D activities in the major manufacturing industries (electric & electronics, machinery, chemical, textile) from the mid-1970s to the late-1990s by the development of "mapping technique". To attain this objective we first have examined the attribute of time-lag which depends on the absolute, and the cumulative values between input and output. And on the basis of this result, we have made an analysis on the impact to extract the main variables affecting patent by industries. Moreover, according to time trend of the impact variables, we have analyzed the structure of R&D efficiency, and of technological progress which will be changed with time by patent information. It has been aimed at constructing technological progress patterns in the Korea industry.