Technology is an increasingly important factor in the competition between nations for international trade. It affects the range of products a country exports, the quality of these products, and the price for which they are sold. Unlike traditional, neo-classical theories of international trade and investment, which neglect this issue, Jorge Niosi and the contributing authors address it directly.

The first part of the collection reassesses and elaborates on Nobel Prize winner Wassily Leontief's input-output model and makes use of Michael V. Posner's technology gap trade theory to examine international trade and import-export factor intensity. The contributors clearly isolate technology as a crucial factor in the foreign commerce of Canada, the US, and other industrial nations. The second part provides the theoretical background, revealing the importance of the industrialized state's ability to affect international trade by implementing technology policy. The third part analyses the role of government strategy in the development of technology in less industrialized nations faced with a fluctuating world economy and rapid technological change. The fourth part re-evaluates Shumpeterian theory, addressing the market determinants of technological change such as market structure, corporate strategy, and the size of corporations.

The contributors to this volume are Bernard Bonin, François Chesnais, Lester A. Davis, Christian DeBresson, Giovanni Dosi, Faye Duchin, Philippe Faucher, K.E. Hamilton, Thomas Hatzichronoglou, Lynn Krieger Mytelka, Jorge Niosi, Jacques Perrin, and Luc Soete.