摘要
Under the global value chain, a country extensively employs foreign intermediate inputs in manufacturing its export products, which may not employ entirely local technology. Science-based measurement of technology content in and structure of exports should be conducted using production process data. Using world input-output tables(WIOTs) of 1995-2011, this paper developed a new method for measuring the export technology content of China and other major countries. Our research findings suggest that, since 1995, there has been some technology upgrade of Chinese exports. China's overall and sector-specific technology contents, and domestic technology contents and indexes all increased and demonstrated a weak convergence towards the average level of developed countries. Judging by the relative rankings of sector-specific technology levels, China is almost locked at the lowest level in the world, and cannot challenge the technological superiority of developed countries like the U.S. and Japan.
Under the global value chain, a country extensively employs foreign intermediate inputs in manufacturing its export products, which may not employ entirely local technology. Science-based measurement of technology content in and structure of exports should be conducted using production process data. Using world input-output tables(WIOTs) of 1995-2011, this paper developed a new method for measuring the export technology content of China and other major countries. Our research findings suggest that, since 1995, there has been some technology upgrade of Chinese exports. China's overall and sector-specific technology contents, and domestic technology contents and indexes all increased and demonstrated a weak convergence towards the average level of developed countries. Judging by the relative rankings of sector-specific technology levels, China is almost locked at the lowest level in the world, and cannot challenge the technological superiority of developed countries like the U.S. and Japan.
