Absorptive Capacity and Frontier Technology: Evidence from OECD Manufacturing Industries

Philip Andrew Stevens and Richard Anthony Kneller ()

No 193, Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2003 from Royal Economic Society

Abstract: This paper investigates whether differences in absorptive capacity help to explain cross-country differences in the level of productivity. We utilise stochastic frontier analysis to investigate two potential sources of this inefficiency: differences in human capital and R&D for nine industries in twelve OECD countries over the period 1973-92. We find that inefficiency in production does indeed exist and it depends upon the level of human capital of the countryÕs workforce.Evidence that the amount of R&D an industry undertakes is also important is less robust. Classification- JEL: O3, O4

Keywords: absorptive capacity; human capital; R&D; SFA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-eec and nep-ino
Date: 2003-06-04
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Working Paper: Absorptive Capacity and Frontier Technology: Evidence from OECD Manufacturing Industries (2002)
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