In the era of globalization, the desire of various states to open the doors for foreign goods and unite national markets into a single world market is considered quite natural, where in fair competition all participants will benefit from open trade. Everything would be nice if not for one significant “but” - the level of development of various states today is significantly different.
The international technology trade particularly illustrates these differences. It is hard to imagine what technologies, for example, the United States can buy from Burkina Faso. Of course, the movement goes from the world center to its outskirts. And the trend cannot change in any way under the existing world economic system.
Imagine that the international trade in technology based on free competition is a sporting event, say, running. And healthy men here are opposed by five-year-olds. Of course, as children will not try, they will never win in this struggle. Third world countries are also children in the modern world economy, who obviously have no chance of success.
But can these children grow up to then enter into fair competition with developed countries, or are they forced to remain children all the time? The second option seems more realistic. Judge for yourself, the international technology trade is built around the sale of finished high-tech products or patents for a particular invention. A country that purchases this kind of benefit receives only the right to use it, but in no way develops an infrastructure that allows it to establish “technology production” on its own.
When it comes to the purchase of patents, for the introduction of new technology in the country of the buyer, there must already be a certain infrastructure. If it is, then, as a rule, it belongs to foreign companies. Thus, all the latest secrets still remain in the hands of developed countries, and developing countries are forced to be content with the role of outsiders.
We will not forget about such an interesting thing as a time lag. This term refers to the time after which a new technology enters the market after the copyright company has collected all the cream. Around this is built the entire international trade in licenses. Each of you, for sure, noticed such a feature that the goods are first sold in developed countries, and then gradually advanced in more and more poor. So it was with mobile phones, mp-3 players, laptops.
It turns out that the international trade in technology in its current format makes it practically impossible to carry out any permutations in the role of various states in the world market. In this case, how much can it be called honest and open?
By the way, it is precisely the developed countries that are most interested in lifting the restrictions, since they receive much greater benefits from free trade than developing countries. Both international trade in goods and international trade in services are built on this principle . While campaigning on developing countries to remove barriers, developed countries appeal to economic theory and promise the latter significant benefits. However, do not forget that the largest economies of our time have made progress in isolation and protectionism, and not in free trade.
In this case, the following questions will be entirely appropriate. Is today's technology trade like beating children? And is it not better for developing countries to strive by all means to develop their own science? Everyone will make their own conclusions.