Study on the channels of international technology spillovers: A view from the interaction of trade and FDI

This research attempts to discuss the difference of international technology spillover mechanism of developing and developed countries. Two leading candidates for diffusion channels are International trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). The interaction of them highlights a new way to explore the mechanism of international technology diffusion. According to the empirical results we got earlier about the relationship of import and FDI of developing countries, some selection criteria are used to form a sample of developing countries covering 14 countries from 1980 to 2003. As a counterpart, the data from G7 members excluding United States are used as a sample of developed countries. The results show that import and inward FDI are two import channels for developing countries, and the interaction of them play an important role in R&D spillovers, while it is not the case for developed countries.