The concept of competitiveness of the national economies and the viability of the national productive systems in the context of globalization focuses on the role of innovative competitive advantages, which are related to the technological know-how. The competitive advantages of low production cost and specialization, which used to be the determining factors of a country's ranking in the world economy, are rapidly displaced by the competitive advantages of technological know-how and innovativeness. In this context, the contemporary issues of competitiveness and growth are included in the new frame of the knowledge economy, which is identified with the know-how of production. This paper presents the relationship between economic activity, investments and technological policies by considering the factors that should be reviewed when undertaking an investment decision as well as the measures applied by a government in order to encourage investment activity. Moreover, the importance of public investments is stressed out as well as the transfer of technology as a basic component of the policies for economic growth. The paper concludes that governments in developing countries are responsible for important investments, which require a view of the evolving structure of the economy.
Keywords: investment, public investment, technology transfer
[...] The most important factors to be considered when considering undertaking an investment decision are the expected future demand, the future preferences of consumers, the increase of consumer income, the expected level of wages and raw materials, the total cost of the investment, the level of interest- rates, the technological changes, the existing reserve of capital equipment, the socio-political environment, the expected dangers from the undertaken investments and the psychological attitude of businessmen against the dangers and the expected tax policy and the investment motive policy. [...]
[...] This paper presents the relationship between economic activity, investments and technological policies. Investment is defined in section while in section 2 the factors that should be considered when undertaking an investment decision are presented. In the context of the measures applied by a government in order to encourage investment activity, the paper explains the investment motive policy in section 3. In section public investments are defined and the importance of public saving in relation to private saving is explained, while, in section the transfer of technology through foreign direct investment and the multinational enterprises is investigated as a basic component of the policies for economic growth. [...]
[...] In order for appreciable technological growth to exist, it is essential to realize important investments taking into consideration the duration of the investment, the total cost of the investment and the profitability of the investment. The duration of the life of a capital good is not given. Factors such as the technological development of corresponding goods, consumer preferences towards specific goods, which are produced with the use of different manufacturing procedures, as well as changes in various economic factors such as the prices of goods and the growth of national income can influence the duration of the investment. [...]
[...] In addition, investment motives are offered when the government, for reasons of national interest, considers that certain sectors and activities of the economic life should be strengthened. Finally, investment motives are offered when other countries have comparative advantage against the domestic economy in specific economic indexes (e.g. higher domestic tax rates). The international experience has shown that firms prefer investment motives, which are related to specific regions, sectors or activities because such investment motives are more flexible and tailor-made to the needs of the firms. [...]
[...] With a finer exploitation of their readily available resources they craft their way towards the improvement of living standards in terms of health, affluence and future progress. The necessity of technological upgrade of industrial activities had initially appeared in the post-war period of the Cold War and was intensified with the petrol crisis of 1973. Progressively, technological modernization and innovativeness became the most important factors to define a country's competitiveness. Technological and institutional changes signaled the era of knowledge economy, primarily in the USA, focusing on the research and development of public investments, creating a new economic knowledge but also proportionally adapting foreign direct investments (FDI). [...]
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