Technology transfer between the U.S.A. and Europe

The premise is that technology gaps have an important impact on the economic life of nations and also have political consequences. Expressions of concern about the technology gap between Europe and the United States have become steadily less frequent in the recent years. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether some of the lessons that can be drawn from the European technology gap of the '60s contribute to the understanding of the present United States-European technology exchange controversies. This is accomplished by (1) reviewing the European arguments, (2) trying to find out how revelant they have proven to be after a few years, (3) investigating better ways to assess the impact of technological differences with reference to current United States arguments about technology export, and (4) attempting to derive some conclusions on policy implications of transferring technology. It was concluded that important policy decisions have been made and are still being made by technology importing countries with little analytical background on the cost and advantages of achieving a technological capacity. In addition, policy decisions by technology exporting countries are most likely to be made with little knowledge of the real phenomena involved.