Imports of goods that embody foreign technology raise a country's output directly as inputs into production and indirectly through reverse-engineering of these goods, which contributes to domestic imitation and innovation. This paper first quantifies spillovers from high-technology imports from...

International patent data for 39 countries from 1970 to 1985 are used to create proxies for imitation and innovation. Domestic imitation and innovation both appear to depend positively on high technology imports from developed countries, intellectual property rights, and the size of the economy....