观点速递

本文作者是世界银行的执行董事Otaviano Canuto。

作者指出，现如今有很多的贸易、外国直接投资和专利的全球性使用令知识和技术不再局限于某一国，这不仅有助于发达经济体和新兴经济体国内生产力水平的提高，而且有助于部分重塑创新格局。通过全球化传播知识，并从这些知识中充分获利需要更进一步努力。

中文译文如下：

用知识带来回报

全球化如何成为创新源泉

Otaviano Canuto

翻译：刘家志

审校：熊若洁

2018年7月3日

4月的国际货币基金组织《世界经济展望》中有一章，讲述全球化如何帮助技术领导者更快地传播知识。跨境传播技术不仅有助于发达经济体和新兴经济体国内生产力水平的提高，而且有助于部分重塑创新格局。一些受援国已成为研发以及专利的重要新来源。

如今，有更多的贸易、外国直接投资和专利的全球性使用令知识和技术不再局限于某一国。这种传播可以以相对较低的成本增加平均产出。通过在生产过程中采用外国技术，并与国内研发相结合，来自国外的知识可以对生产力和创新都产生影响。《世界经济展望》估计，从2004年到2014年，新兴市场经济体中，外国知识对劳动生产率年增长的贡献约为0.7个百分点，或占所观察部门生产率增长的40％，而1995-2003年期间对年增长率的贡献则为0.4个百分点。”。该报告说，即使不考虑中国，这些统计结果依然强劲，表明新兴市场经济体中生产率效应基础广泛。 

国际技术创新的来源正发生变化，中国的研发支出猛增，韩国国际专利总量增加。这些国家加入了电气和光学设备领域传统领导者的行列，而韩国在机械领域的进步尤为突出。

自从21世纪初以来，前沿经济体经历了劳动力和全要素生产率增长的放缓，两者是衡量生产过程投入的有效程度的指标。另外，前沿经济体的专利增长速度也放慢，并且在一定程度上降低了对研发的投资。

《世界经济展望》强调了国际竞争加剧对创新和技术传播的积极影响。这可以被视为全球化的另一个渠道，作用是加强激励机制，鼓励创新和采用国外技术。

简单的互联不会自动提高生产力和激发本地创新。任何技术应用都需要通过教科书或其他可编码形式的知识传授，使得本地特定内容能够被获取或传播。该知识不能通过如蓝图的方式来明确，因此不能完全以公共信息或私有财产的方式传播，而必须在本地发展。

生产、技术采用和发明需要相对高水平的特殊知识和本地能力。后来者通常从生产和技术采用开始，然后才过渡到发明。韩国和中国就是如此。这些国家通过使用和适应现有技术进行深度学习后，正发展其创新能力。

能否成功取决于融资渠道、基础设施、熟练劳动力以及良好的管理和组织实践。没有这些条件的情况下，投资能力开发的回报可能很低。必须找到方法解决抑制知识积累的市场失灵。另外，与经营相关的交易成本，例如跨境交易、雇用和执行合同的成本，也不能太高。 

但这种有利的环境并不多见，这就是国际创新格局没有发生重大变化的原因。《世界经济展望》还提及了世界银行的经济学家Xavier Cirera和William Maloney所提出的“创新悖论”，即发展中经济体中与创新相关的投资水平低与技术采用和技术赶超所伴随的高回报无关。全球化也许能传播知识，但要从这些知识中充分获利需要更进一步努力。

英文原文如下：

Making returns on knowledge

How innovation can flow from globalisation

Otaviano Canuto

  3 July 2018

The April issue of the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook included a chapter on how globalisation has helped technology leaders' knowledge spread faster. Cross-border technological diffusion has not only contributed to rising domestic productivity levels in advanced and emerging economies, but also facilitated a partial reshaping of the innovation landscape. Some recipient countries have become significant new sources of research and development as well as patents.

More trade, foreign direct investment and international use of patents have disseminated knowledge and technology across borders. This diffusion can lead to increases in average outputs at relatively low costs. Knowledge flows from abroad can have an impact both on productivity, through the adoption of foreign technologies in the production process, and on innovation, when combined with domestic R&D. The WEO estimates that in emerging market economies, 'from 2004 to 2014, foreign knowledge accounted for about 0.7 percentage point of labour productivity growth a year, or 40% of observed sectoral productivity growth, compared with 0.4 percentage point annual growth during 1995-2003'. According to the report, these results remain robust even when China is excluded, indicating that productivity effects were broad-based among emerging market economies.

International sources of technological innovation are changing, as R&D expenditures skyrocket in China and stocks of international patents pile up in South Korea. These countries have joined traditional leaders in sectors such as electrical and optical equipment and, especially South Korea, machinery.

This has happened even as, since the early 2000s, frontier economies have gone through a slowdown in the increase of labour and total factor productivity, a measure of how efficiently inputs are being used in the production process. These economies have also experienced slower growth in patenting and, to some extent, lower R%D investment.

The WEO highlights the positive effects of heightened international competition on innovation and technological diffusion. This could be considered an additional channel through which globalisation is reinforcing incentives to innovate and adopt technologies from abroad.

Simple interconnectedness does not automatically spark productivity increases and local innovation. Any application of technology needs locally specific content that cannot be acquired or transferred by means of textbooks or other codifiable forms of knowledge transmission. This knowledge cannot be made explicit, such as through the use of blueprints, and thus cannot be perfectly diffused as either public information or private property. It must be developed locally.

Production, technology adoption and invention require a relatively high level of such idiosyncratic knowledge and local capabilities. It is typical for latecomers to start from production and technological adoption and only then move on to invention. That has been the case in South Korea and China. These countries are developing their innovation capabilities after intense learning through using and adapting existing technologies.

Success depends on access to finance, infrastructure, skilled labour, and good managerial and organisational practices. In the absence of these factors, returns from investing in the development of capabilities are likely to be low. Solutions must be found to market failures that generate disincentives to the accumulation of knowledge. The transaction costs associated with doing business, such as trading across borders, hiring and enforcing contracts, also cannot be too high.

This beneficial environment is not widespread, which is why there have not been large changes in the international innovation landscape. It also explains what Xavier Cirera and William Maloney, economists at the World Bank, have called the innovation paradox. Low levels of innovation-related investment in developing economies do not correlate with the high returns thought to accompany technological adoption and catch-up. Globalisation may spread knowledge. Profiting fully from that knowledge requires a further effort.

内容整理 罗梦宇

图文编辑 罗梦宇

审校  田雯

监制  朱霜霜

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