[was: RE: [PEN-L:20285] Re: Re: Re: RE: project for Pen-l] Ali writes: > many in the international organizations sincerely believe in technology spill over and linkages, of these there are backward and forward linkages, <
One problem with "technology transfer" is that the technology, even if used in the poor countries, is still owned by the corporation. This means that it runs up against "intellectual property rights." To the extent that IPR win, technology transfer loses, and vice-versa. as for the backward & forward linkages, in theory they could work. A plant that assembles electronic goods in (say) Honduras might, in theory stimulate those industries in Honduras that use electronic goods to produce other things and those industries in Honduras that supply the raw materials used in making electronics goods. The problem is that Honduras is a dependent nation, in which all or almost all capital goods are imported. The linkages are thus exported. The electronics plant also provides wages to H workers, but the problem is that if wages in H rise above those offered by competiting countries, capital will start thinking about moving (or about enlisting the gov't to drive wages down). These linkages would work better in a place like S. Korea when it was in its Hamilton/List phase of building industry behind trade barriers in order to win the battle of competition internationally. It won't work very well at all for a dependent country that opens itself to the world market. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
