Enlightenment of Latin American Development Model to China's Science and Technology Development
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Since 2000, China's per capita GDP has exceeded US$ 65,438+0,000, and its economy has continued to grow at a high speed. At the same time, with the influx of foreign direct investment into China, the core technologies of some key industries and fields began to be controlled by multinational companies, which is similar to the situation in Latin American countries since 1990s. As a result, some people in the theoretical and business circles think that China may fall into the dilemma of "technology dependence". Relevant experts analyzed the growth impetus and the causes of "technical dependence" in different stages of Latin American development model, and put forward some enlightenment for China's scientific and technological development.
I. Evolution of the Latin American development model
The evolution of Latin America's development model has gone through three stages, but the essence of its resource-driven growth has never changed.
1. Export-oriented development model of primary products. /kloc-After the war of independence in the early 20th century, Latin American countries generally accepted the export-oriented development model of primary products. This model is a typical resource-driven growth model. Latin America is vast and rich in natural resources, so it is natural to export primary products in exchange for foreign exchange income. As far as internal factors are concerned, the following measures are undoubtedly the main factors to accelerate the operation of the export-oriented development model of primary products. First, a large number of immigrants from Europe and other places provide a large amount of labor for the production of primary products; Second, in addition to newly reclaimed land, large areas of land owned by churches and Indians are also used to grow agricultural products; Third, the government vigorously develops infrastructure; Fourth, a large number of foreign capital has entered the field of Latin American primary product production; Fifth, scientific and technological progress has benefited the primary product sector.
2. Introduce an alternative development model. After the outbreak of World War II, it was difficult for Latin American countries to import manufactured goods with enough hard currency because European countries were busy with the war, which reduced the production of manufactured goods, and the war affected the intercontinental transportation lines. This situation makes it more necessary and urgent for Latin American countries to develop their own industries. Therefore, if the Great Depression in 1930s urged Latin American countries to realize the necessity of adopting import substitution mode for industrialization, then the outbreak of World War II strengthened their determination to implement this mode. In the process of implementing the development model of import substitution industrialization, Latin American countries have taken the following measures: (1) highly protect "infant industries". (2) Provide preferential treatment for "infant industries". (3) Rely on the power of state power, use state capital, vigorously develop infrastructure, directly build state-owned enterprises in some "strategic" sectors and capital-intensive or technology-intensive sectors that private investors cannot enter, or transform foreign-funded enterprises into state-owned enterprises after nationalization in the field of natural resources. (4) Vigorously attract foreign investment. (5) Developing regional economic integration. (6) Introduce technology from developed countries. The development of manufacturing industry needs a lot of capital goods and advanced technology. Limited by the level of economic development, Latin American countries can only import capital goods and technologies from developed countries.
3. Substitution after import (new freedom) development model. In 1990s, neo-liberalism spread widely in Latin America, and the demonstration effect of East Asia choosing the road of market economy and taking off successfully made Latin America begin to implement the development model of "post-import substitution", the essence of which was the liberalization of market economy. The main contents of this development model are: trade liberalization; Relax restrictions on foreign investment; Privatization; Tax system reform; Financial reform; Reform of labor system; Reform of social security system. The economic reform in Latin America has achieved remarkable results, but at the same time, it has also produced a series of problems, one of which is that transnational corporations are increasingly controlling the Latin American economy. Moreover, in the period of import substitution, Latin America still has favorable state intervention and high protection of the domestic market in economic life, but after implementing a series of liberalization policies, these interventions and protection no longer exist, and Latin America's scientific and technological development is increasingly dependent on foreign countries. One result of liberalized market economy and heavy dependence on foreign capital is that it is different from the industrial structure evolution path in the process of industrialization development in most countries. In Latin America, the proportion of technology-intensive industries and labor-intensive industries in the manufacturing output value has been declining for 20 years after 1980, while the output value of resource-intensive industries such as agriculture, mining and energy has increased significantly.
Second, the characteristics and reasons of "technology dependence" in Latin America
Despite the above three stages of development, Latin American countries have never changed their "technical dependence". /kloc-At the beginning of the 20th century, Latin American countries relied on foreign advanced technology to develop their own primary product sectors. After the 1930s and 1950s, with the implementation of the import substitution industrialization model, advanced technologies with multinational corporations as carriers entered the Latin American manufacturing industry, and almost all sectors in Latin America relied on imports for advanced technologies. The neo-liberal reform and opening up implemented in the 1990s made this region a favored investment destination for FDI, but the host country did not acquire the key technologies of multinational companies. This means that the "resources for technology" and "market for technology" expected by Latin American countries have not been realized.
In 1990s, major countries in Latin America conducted two surveys on independent innovation capability of enterprises. The results show that the depth and breadth of independent innovation activities of Latin American enterprises are very limited. Throughout the 1990s, the patent self-sufficiency rate in Latin America showed a downward trend, and the increase in the number of patents granted was mainly driven by the increase in the number of patents granted by non-residents. In the same period, from the index of invention coefficient, except Mexico index, other Latin American countries have basically not changed. At least to some extent, this shows that the independent innovation of most Latin American countries is at a standstill. Latin America's "technological dependence" is due to:
1. The local R&D efforts are not enough. First of all, the total investment of R&D is insufficient. In 200 1 year, R&D's investment in Latin America was11500 million US dollars, accounting for 1.6% of the global investment, only surpassing Oceania. The total expenditure in North America is 20 times that in Latin America; Europe and Asia are 18 times that of Latin America. In the same year, the R&D expenditure of Latin American countries accounted for about 0.6 1% of GDP, which was much lower than that of OECD countries (2.2%), NAFTA countries (2.5%) and Europe (1.9%).
Second, the R&D structure is unreasonable. Latin America's R & ampd is concentrated in the primary product production and export sectors. In the mid-1980s, 55% of Brazil's total R&D expenditure was spent on natural resources and agriculture, 33% on services and only 65,438+02% on manufacturing. At the end of 1980s, Argentina's R&D in manufacturing accounted for only 4%, 64% in natural resources and agriculture, and 33% in service industry. This feature is undoubtedly related to the industrial structure of Latin American countries.
Third, the source of R&D funds in Latin America mainly depends on the public sector. The public sector in Latin American countries is the main investor and undertaker of R&D, and the private sector's investment in R&D accounts for a small proportion of the total expenditure. About 70-80% of the total R&D expenditure in Latin America comes from the government, most of which goes to universities, and private R&D expenditure is about 25-30%. The innovation model promoted by Latin American countries basically follows the "top-down" model, that is, innovation is carried out by government ministries or higher education research institutions, rather than by enterprises spontaneously. Enterprises have not become the main body of technological innovation.
Fourthly, the reason why Latin American countries lack R&D is that Latin American countries are developing countries after all, and it is difficult for them to invest a lot of resources in underdeveloped countries to carry out R&D activities with long cycle and slow effect. Faced with the long-term high inflation rate before the 1990s and the debt crisis and economic crisis in the 1980s, Latin American governments first considered how to stabilize the macroeconomic situation and achieve sound economic growth, while ignoring the importance of scientific and technological progress. In addition, influenced by the traditional Iberian Catholic culture, Latin American countries generally value literature over rationality and consumption over investment.
2. The impact of foreign direct investment (transnational corporations). Since 1990s, foreign direct investment has flooded into Latin America, and by the end of 1990s, the net inflow of foreign direct investment reached a record of more than 80 billion dollars. Multinational companies have become the protagonists of foreign direct investment. There are four main strategic objectives of transnational corporations in Latin America: (1) exploiting natural resources. (2) Occupy the mainframe market. (3) Pursuing high efficiency. Multinational companies make use of the comparative advantages of rich labor resources in the host country to train local labor, increase the export of manufactured goods in the host country, and transfer a certain amount of simple technology to domestic enterprises. However, because the multinational companies seeking benefits are mainly distributed in labor-intensive industries, the added value of their products is very low, and the host country can easily rely heavily on imports, because many raw materials and intermediate products of the products must be imported from abroad by multinational companies. (4) acquiring technical assets. In order to take advantage of Latin America's technological advantages in some fields, multinational companies often establish joint ventures with Latin American enterprises, with multinational companies providing funds and some technologies, and host country enterprises providing key technologies or auxiliary technologies.
It should be said that transnational corporations have made great contributions to Latin American economy, but they have also brought some negative effects to Latin American economic and social development: the remittance of profits from transnational corporations has aggravated the shortage of funds in Latin American countries, and some production activities have caused damage to the ecological environment. More importantly, the "technology spillover" of multinational companies is not significant. When multinational companies enter Latin America, they sometimes transfer some technologies and invest in related infrastructure to help the host country realize the commercialization or industrialization of some technologies. However, in general, there are not many multinational companies aiming at acquiring technical assets, so the positive impact on improving the scientific and technological level in Latin America is limited.
Third, some enlightenment of Latin American development model to the development of science and technology in China.
1. We must deal with the relationship between introducing technology and improving the ability of independent innovation. Any open economy can get innovation in various ways. These channels include importing machinery, equipment and inputs, purchasing licenses or patents, and introducing foreign direct investment. At home, R&D activities carried out by enterprises and the public sector can also bring innovation. But innovation at home and abroad cannot replace each other. In other words, it is not enough to rely solely on imported technology. In order to make effective use of foreign technology, it is necessary to enhance the digestion ability at the level of domestic enterprises. Only by combining foreign technology with domestic innovation can the two complement each other. In the foreseeable future, foreign direct investment will continue to enter China in large quantities, and at the same time, China has a huge market. Therefore, on the basis of expanding the introduction of foreign capital, we must strive to open up the domestic market and realize innovation.
2. Give full play to the role of national strategy and technology policy, make effective use of technology leverage (OEM/ODM) and learning, and vigorously improve the learning ability and innovation ability of China industries. The adjustment and upgrading of a country's industrial structure can't be completely completed through the market mechanism, especially in the important basic, long-term and forward-looking strategic fields, it is necessary to give full play to the role of national strategies and policies. At the macro level, the government should have long-term planning and stable development strategies and ideas, design effective and coordinated institutional arrangements and operational frameworks, make continuous investment, and guide its industrial structure to be continuously optimized. At the micro level, the government encourages enterprises to become the main body of R&D investment, innovation activities and application of scientific and technological achievements through policy application. So as to promote the promotion of domestic industrial innovation ability at both macro and micro levels, and then form industrial competitiveness.
3. The development model of a country or region that can be summarized is formed by the comprehensive action of many factors and can be changed for a long time. The experience of newly industrialized countries in East Asia shows that "technology dependence" may be formed at a certain stage of development. The experience of Latin America shows that "technology dependence" may become a dilemma that has long plagued a country's economic growth. This means that social culture, political system, financial market and many other factors will affect the trajectory of a country's scientific and technological development. In this sense, maintaining macroeconomic stability, opening the capital market stably and implementing exchange rate control are equally important for China's current and future scientific and technological development.