Originally published in 1985, in the deteriorating climate of East-West relations technology transfer became vitally important. The Eastern bloc desperately needed Western technology to assist in the development of the socialist economies, but a proposed US ban on the export of Western technology to the Siberian pipeline project led to increasing tension within the Western alliance abot the nature and scale of high technology that could be safely exported to the East. This book reviews the state of technology transfer to the East in the 1980s and considers the place of Western technology in the Eastern economies. It also discusses the strategic goals of Western technology embargoes. Many of the issues discussed remain pertinent today.

The deterioration of detente in the wake of the ongoing Soviet arms build-up has sharply focused the East-West trade debate on the question of advanced technology transfer from the United States and its allies to the Soviet bloc. The transfer and acquisition of high technology have become central ingredients in super-power relations and are key elements of any national security policy. President Reagan, among others, has questioned the wisdom of the policies of the 1960s and early 1970s, when trade with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe expanded rapidly. At recent industrial nation summits, conferees of Western countries agreed to high-level review of their East-West technology trade policies. But in light of the apparent West European commitment to continue and expand trade with the East, as exemplified by the Siberian gas pipeline project, and the growing U.S. opposition to such technology transfer, divisions between U.S. and Western trade policies toward the East are likely to become increasingly acute in the years ahead. Professors Bertsch and McIntyre have selected comprehensive and representative articles to examine the question of technology transfer from a variety of perspectives--political, economic, and military- emphasizing both the U.S. and the Western allies' points of view and offering insights into the complex issues raised by the strategic dimensions of East-West trade.

This is the first empirical study to compare and contrast the effects of technology transfer to developing countries from the West and from Eastern European countries. The author's primary purpose is to compare the effects of the different technologies offered by the two groups--the capital-intensive technologies of the West and the labor-intensive technologies of the Eastern bloc--on the economic growth of developing countries, as measured by growth in output. Using an analytical method based on the production-input structure, the author is able to quantify the impact on economic growth of technology transfer from different sources and with different characteristics. Karake also evaluates the experience of developing countries in importing technologies and identifies the direction, pattern, and content of those technologies. Scholars in international and economic development will find Karake's work an important contribution to the documented information concerning the trade in technology and its relation to economic growth and technological interdependence. Following an introductory chapter, Karake offers a general discussion of the relationships among development, growth, and technology. She then introduces the econometric time-series models and describes the basic study structure. The next section examines policies, mechanisms, and trends in technology transfer in both the West and the East, focusing on such issues as the factors and policies which affect technology transfer to the Middle East and patterns of technological exports. A chapter devoted to model formulation, empirical analysis, estimation, and results specifies the empirical models used in the study and presents statistical analysis of the appropriate data. Finally, Karake summarizes the major research findings, suggests avenues for further research, and assesses the future of technology transfer activity. Four appendices containing important supplemental information and a bibliography complete the study.