High-technology exports and economic growth: Panel data analysis for selected oecd countries

This paper uses a panel cointegration model to analyse the long-term relationship between high-technology exports and economic growth in selected OECD countries in the period from 1989 to 2015. We used high-technology exports (current US$) as the dependent variable and the GDP growth rate, FDI (foreign direct investment), application of patents by residents, and gross capital formation % of GDP as explanatory variables. The export structure of countries is moving increasingly towards technology-intensive products such as ICT (information and communications technology), aerospace, computing and office equipment, electronics, chemical products, pharmaceuticals, and electrical machinery. The export structure has played an important role in the economic growth theories of many countries since the 1960s, as export growth has been associated with faster productivity and GDP growth. We aimed to find out the relationship between high-technology exports and the explanatory variables which we listed for 14 selected OECD countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the USA). According to our empirical results, there is a long-term relationship between high-technology exports and economic growth in selected OECD countries. The empirical results show that an improvement in patent applications and foreign direct investment play a decisive role in upgrading selected OECD countries’ high-tech exports, while growth rate and investment play a negative role in enhancing these countries’ high-tech exports.