6th Global Conference on Business & Economics
ISBN : 0-9742114-6-X
Technology Gap, Human Capital and Multinational Enterprises:
Evidence from Country-Level Panel Data
Khaled Elmawazini*, Economics Department, University of Ottawa and KIMEP
Samir Saadi, School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates human capital and technology gap as measures of host
country absorptive capacity in 38 developed and developing countries. Park/SUR method are
used to estimate panel data regression equations. In many previous studies, human capital is
measured by schooling years and technology gap is measured by total factor productivity
relative to US total factor productivity. The results of these empirical studies are sensitive to
the measure of absorptive capacity used. Using data on US multinational enterprises (MNEs),
this paper shows that total factor productivity level is more significant than average schooling
years to capture the absorptive capacity of host countries. This conclusion may indicate that
the results of previous studies that used average schooling years should be interpreted with
caution. In addition, it may support the hypothesis that MNEs technology diffusion effect in
developing countries is weak and less significant than in developed countries.
INTRODUCTION
Recent empirical studies show mixed support for the hypothesis that the magnitude
of technology transfer from multinatinal enterprises (MNEs) depends on host country
absorptive capacity. The results of these empirical studies are sensitive to the measure of
absorptive capacity used. Many recent studies argued that a country must have a certain level
of human capital in order to benefit from multinational enterprises. Borensztein and et al.
(1998) measured the human capital level by male secondary school attainment in the
population over age 25. They examined the impact of FDI outflows from OECD countries to
69 developing countries during 1970 to 1989. They divided the sample into two periods:
1970-79 and 1980-89. Their results indicated that the threshold value is 0.52 years. Xu (2000)
used the same measure of absorptive capacity as Borensztein et al. (1998) but he obtained
different threshold value (1.4 years). He used MNEs data from the Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA) of the US Department of Commerce in 1966, 1977, 1982, 1989, and 1994 for
40 developed and developing countries.
Xu (2000) argued that the difference between the threshold value in his study and
Borensztein and et al. (1998) is due to the difference in the measures of technology diffusion
being used . More specifically, Borenstein et al. (1998) used FDI to GDP ratio to capture the
technology diffusion from FDI. On the other hand, Xu (2000) used technology transfer
spending of foreign affiliates to GDP in the host country; this can measure the technology
diffusion effect of foreign affiliates in the host country. Xu’s measure can extract the
technology diffusion effect from other productivity-enhancing effects of US MNCs affiliates.
The panel data regression equation that is used in Xu’s is:
GTFPit  a i0  a 0t  a 1 GAPit  a 2 MNE it  a 3 H it  e it
(1.1)
*
Corresponding author. Address: 23 Impasse Du Sillon, Gatineau, Quebec, J8Z 2Y7
Canada.
Tel. 1(819)777-5068. E-mail: k.elmawazini@alumni.uottawa.ca


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ISBN : 0-9742114-6-X
Where: GTFPit is the growth rate of total factor productivity (TFP) . GAP variable
captures the technology level and it is measured by TFP for the host country relative to TFP
for the US. The MNE variable has three measures to determine the technology diffusion from
US MNEs’ affiliates. The first measure, the value-added of MNEs’ affiliates / GDP in the host
country, reflects the effect of the presence of MNEs on total factor productivity growth in the
host country. The second measure, technology transfer spending of MNEs’ affiliates
(affiliates’ spending on royalties and license fees) / (the value-added of MNEs’ affiliates), can
reflect the effect of technology transfer intensity by MNEs affiliates on total productivity
growth in the host countries. The third is technology transfer spending of MNEs’ affiliates /
GDP in the host country; this can measure the technology diffusion effect of MNEs in the host
country. H is the human capital level of the country; Human capital is measured by average
years of male secondary school attainment in the population over age 25. This variable is
calculated by Barro and Lee 1996, and finally eit is the error term.
Absorptive capacity is measured by technology gap in many empirical studies.
Kokko (1994) is the first author who empirically uses the technology gap as a measure of
absorptive capacity. He measured the technology gap by the labor productivity gap. His
results indicate that domestic firms can not benefit from the technology diffusion from foreign
firms if the technology gap between them is significant. Similar results can be found in Kokko
et al. (1996), and Girma et al. (2001).
The above recent studies showed that the impact of foreign affiliate on productivity
and economic growth mainly depends on host countries absorptive capacity. This may explain
why foreign affiliate technology diffusion effect in developing countries is less significant
than in developed country. However, De Mello (1999) argued that the impact of FDI on
growth in OECD is less than that in non-OECD countries. In addition, Lensink and Morrisey
(2001) argued that FDI has positive impact on economic growth regardless of the level of
human capital. Similar result is obtained by McMillan (1999). This means that the results of
these empirical studies are sensitive to the measure of absorptive capacity used. With this in
mind, this article investigates human capital and technology gap as measures of host country
absorptive capacity in 38 developed and developing countries. The reminder of this article is
structured as follows. Section 2 is the empirical specification, Section 3 discusses the data,
Section 4 is the empirical findings, and Section 5 is the conclusion.
EMPIRICAL SPECIFICATION
In this section, we will examine the significance of technology gap and human capital
on the technology diffusion from multinational enterprises (MNEs). The panel data regression
equation is:
N
MNE_Tech it    0j D jt   1 H 1 , it   2 GAP 2 , it  e it (2.1)
J 1
Where: MNE_Tech is the technology transfer spending of US MNEs’ affiliates /
GDP in the host country; this can measure the technology diffusion effect of MNEs in the host
country. The calculation of MNE_Tech, H, and GAP is based on Xu (2000), see equation
(1.1). The Djt are cross-section dummy variables. When j=1, Djt=1 and otherwise Djt = 0.
Hence, equation (2.1) gives the panel data dummy variable model (i.e. fixed effect model).
However, this model does not allow for the heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation. For this
reason, we apply Park (1967) method to the dummy variable model. The assumptions of this
method yield cross-sectionally heteroskedastic and timewise autoregressive model. Park
(1967) model is discussed in Greene (2000).
DATA
The source of TFP data is Heston et al. (2002). We follow Xu(2000) method to
calculate total factor productivity for country i at time t: TFPit = Yit / (Kit0.35 Lit0.65). Y is
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6th Global Conference on Business & Economics
ISBN : 0-9742114-6-X
real GDP in 1996 international prices; K is capital stock in 1996 international prices ; L is
labor force in thousands. GAP is the technology gap which is measured by TFP relative to US
TFP in the initial year. H is the average years of male secondary school attainment in the
population over age 25. The data of H variable is collected from Barro and Lee 1996.
MNE data source is the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of The US Department
of Commerce in 1966, 1977, 1982, 1989, and 1994. We follow Xu (2000) who used MNEs
data from manufacturing sector since this sector is most relevant for studying technology
diffusion (Xu, 2000, p.481). The BEA data on technology transfer is used to extract the
technology diffusion effect from other productivity-enhancing effects of US MNCs affiliates
in 38 countries. By using BEA data, a panel of four periods and 38 countries is constructed.
The following table indicates the countries that are included in our panel data set.
Table 3.1 Developed and developing countries by regions
Developed countries
Developing countries
Canada
Latin America:
Argentina
Brazil
Europe:
Austria
Chile
Belgium
Colombia
Denmark
Costa Rica
Finland
Ecuador
France
Mexico
Greece
Peru
Ireland
Venezuela
Italy
Netherlands
Asia:
Norway
Thailand
Portugal
Turkey
Spain
India
Sweden
Malaysia
Switzerland
Singapore
UK
Korea
Philippines
Other-DC
Israel
Africa:
Japan
Egypt
New Zealand
South Africa
Australia
EMPIRICAL RESULTS
The empirical findings based on equation 2.1 can be summarized in the following table:
Table (4.1) presents panel data regressions results for the MNE_Tech variable from the
full sample. Values in parentheses are t-statistics.
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6th Global Conference on Business & Economics
Regression
Method:
ISBN : 0-9742114-6-X
(Regression 4.1)
(Regression 4.2)
(Regression 4.3)
H variable
0.24907 (1.324)
Not included
0.89796E-02 (0.05160)
GAP variable
-0.48219 (-3.169)
-0.40526 (-2.883)
Not included
BUSE RAW-MOMENT
R2
DW
0.9099
0.9096
1.7596
1.7488
1.7519
RUNS (Geary) test
56 RUNS,75POS,77 NEG
53 RUNS, 76 POS, 76 NEG
51 RUNS, 75 POS,77 NEG
N
T
NT
38
4
152
38
4
152
38
4
152
0.9072
Breusch-Pagan (1980) Lagrange multiplier test indicates that there is no evidence to
reject the hypothesis of no cross-section correlation. Lagrange multiplier test for cross-section
heteroskedasticity indicates that there is evidence to reject the the hypothesis of
homoskedasticity. With these two results in mind, Park (1967) method are used to estimate
regressions 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3. The assumptions of this method yield cross-sectionally
heteroskedastic and timewise autoregressive model. Park (1967) model is discussed in Greene
(2000). The results of regressions (4.1), (4.2), and (4.3) indicate that total factor productivity
gap is better than average years of male secondary school attainment in capturing the host
country absorptive capacity. These results may imply that the results of previous studies (e.g.
Xu (2000) and Borensztein et al. (1998), which used average schooling years, should be
interpreted with caution. In addition, it may support the hypothesis that MNEs technology
diffusion effect in developing countries is weak and less significant than in developed
countries.
CONCLUSION
The results of previous empirical studies, which examine the host countries benefits
from multinational enterprises, are sensitive to the measure of absorptive capacity used. With
this in mind, this article investigates human capital and technology gap as measures of host
country absorptive capacity in 38 developed and developing countries. The LSDV model
suffers from cross-section heteroskeastic. For this reason, we apply Park method to LSDV
Model to estimate panel data regression equations. The assumptions of this method yield
cross-sectionally heteroskedastic and timewise autoregressive model. MNE data source is the
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of The US Department of Commerce in 1966, 1977,
1982, 1989, and 1994. This study follows Xu (2000) who used MNEs data from
manufacturing sector since this sector is most relevant for studying technology diffusion (Xu,
2000, p.481). The BEA data on technology transfer is used to extract the technology diffusion
effect from other productivity-enhancing effects of US MNCs affiliates in 38 countries. By
using data on US multinational enterprises, this study shows that total factor productivity level
can capture the absorptive capacity better than the average schooling years in host countries.
These results may imply that the results of previous studies (e.g. Xu (2000) and Borensztein et
al. (1998), which used average schooling years, should be interpreted with caution.
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6th Global Conference on Business & Economics
ISBN : 0-9742114-6-X
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