Contrary to conventional wisdom based on the product cycle and technology gap models, this paper argues that the technology factor can prove to be a key determinant of manufactured exports from less-developed countries (LDCs). The technological advantages enjoyed by LDCs rest on a very different foundation, technological capability, rather than on major technological advancements or breakthroughs. This paper attempts to capture and analyse how technological capability augments export competitiveness of LDC enterprises by introducing quantifiable concepts of technological capability and estimating econometric models of firm-level export performance for two R&D-intensive industries in India, pharmaceuticals and electronics/electricals. The results of our econometric analysis provide new insights into the relationship between technological capability and export performance, highlighting significant inter-industry differences. We find that simple production engineering capabilities augment exports of both sectors, while efficiency of reverse engineering proves to be particularly important for pharmaceutical exports only.
"Science-based" standards are an integral part of modern regulatory systems. Studies on "public understanding of science" mostly focus on high technology areas in advanced economies. In contrast, the present study analyses the public understanding of regulation in the context of standard-setting for bottled water quality in India. Using primary data, the econometric models of this paper show that public understanding of participation in regulation depends on awareness of, and trust in, existing regulatory practices in a complex, non-linear manner. In this light, the paper argues that "deficit model" and "dialogue model" frameworks cannot be seen as two mutually exclusive frameworks of analyses.
The growing concerns about food security, especially in the disadvantaged regions of the world, often point out the inadequacies of strictly sectoral approaches to addressing the problems of agriculture. Such policy approaches coincided with the rise of a global, top-down, formal, science-driven development of agriculture. Over time, such interventions have drawn criticism from multiple corners as inadequately addressing the need for local variation in institutional contexts. The objective of this paper is to adopt a bottom-up perspective to address the need for cross-sectorality in food security policies. Sustainable Rural Livelihood (SRL) and Grassroots Innovation (GI) are two well recognized schools of thought which emphasize the cross-sectoral approaches to livelihood and local level problem-solving. By embracing a frugality lens, we can offer a conceptual regularity in the patterns of behaviour and decision-making highlighted by the SRL and GI schools of thought. Taking a step further, the frugality lens, by focusing on the usefulness of a decision in the actual environment, emphasizes the need to diagnose local institutions better. Note, however, that the contention of the current paper is not to posit 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' as two competing paradigms. It only argues that a frugality lens helps us to better appreciate the strengths of a bottom-up approach for effective policy formulation, an appreciation of which would promote a dignified marriage between the two perspectives.
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