ECONOMIC GROWTH CENTER

                        YALE UNIVERSITY

                        P.O. Box 208269
                      27 Hillhouse Avenue
                    New Haven, CT 06520-8269


                CENTER DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 777




    ECONOMIC GROWTH, INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL SPILLOVERS
                       AND PUBLIC POLICY:
            THEORY AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM ASIA



                       Robert E. Evenson
                        Yale University



                        Lakhwinder Singh
                       Punjabi University



                         September 1997




Note:    Center Discussion Papers are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussions and
         critical comments.  Dr. Singh was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Economics Department.

         Support for this project was funded in part by the National Institute of Public Finance and
         Policy/Ford Foundation Fellowship No. 15930382.










                             Abstract


   This paper examines, within the new growth theory framework, the
contribution of international technological spillovers using panel data for
eleven Asian countries over the period 1970-93.  A country's productivity
growth is shown to depend not only on its domestic R&D investment but also on
the R&D investment of its trading partners.  The evidence for such positive
international technological spillovers is strong.  This paper also shows that
the beneficial effects of international technological spillovers on
productivity growth are stronger in South East Asian countries than that of
of South Asian countries.


KEY WORDS; Economic Growth, Technology Spillovers, Asia