Reports
Discussion Papers
No.538 What best transfers knowledge? Capital, goods, and innovative labor in East Asia
by KANG Byeongwoo
October 2015
ABSTRACT
This paper compares three knowledge carriers—trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and inventors—as knowledge mediums, and investigates their effects on knowledge flow in East Asia from 1996 to 2010. Using patent citations as a proxy for knowledge flow, this paper shows that FDI and inventor mobility have positive effects on increasing patent citations in East Asia when the technological portfolios of two countries are less similar. While trade shows statistical significance, the effect is inconsistent according to the regression models.
Keywords: Foreign direct investment, Knowledge flow, Personnel mobility, Trade
JEL classification: F4, J6, O3
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