Abstract：Modernization is a symbol of the overall social and economic progress of a region or a country. The technological gap between developing and developed countries provides developing countries with a late-mover advantage in accelerating industrialization and modernization. However, the ability of developing countries to truly realize the late-mover advantage depends on their social capabilities. As a comprehensive reflection of a country’s economic and social characteristics, social capability influences the absorption, transformation, and utilization of advanced technology from developed countries by developing countries, and is the social basis for developing countries to narrow the technological gap and achieve modernization. Based on a theoretical analysis of the internal relationship among social capability, the technological gap, and the modernization process, this study employs panel data from 106 countries from 1991 to 2019 to empirically test the relationship among them. The results indicate that social capability significantly promotes the modernization process of countries by narrowing the technological gap, in which technological efficiency and technological progress play an important intermediary role. The findings for China reveal that the influence of social capability on China’s modernization process exceeds that of other countries, and an important reason for China’s rapid modernization process is the effective narrowing of the technological gap with leading countries through the continuous improvement of social capability. However, China’s modernization process is currently facing new challenges due to multiple shocks at home and abroad. To continue to enhance its social capability and establish a solid social foundation for the continued facilitation of China’s path to modernization, China needs to further open up, promote industrial transformation, strengthen social inclusion, and improve governance efficiency.
[1] (美)格申克龙. 经济落后的历史透视[M].张凤林译.北京:商务印书馆,2011.56-63. [2] Abramovitz M.Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind[J].Journal of Economic History,1986,46(2):385-406. [3] Cohen, W. M., Levinthal, D.A.Absorptive Capacity:A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation[J].Administrative Science Quarterly,1990,35(1):128-152. [4] Criscuolo, P., Narula, R.A Novel Approach to National Technological Accumulation and Absorptive Capacity: Aggregating Cohen and Levinthal[J].European Journal of Development Research,2008,20(1):56-73. [5] (美)布莱克.比较现代化[M].杨豫,陈祖洲译.上海:上海译文出版社,1998.7. [6] 董正华. 世界现代化进程十五讲[M].北京:北京大学出版社,2009.2. [7] 罗荣渠. 现代化新论:世界与中国的现代化进程(增订本)[M].北京:商务印书馆,2009.11. [8] Rosenstein-Rodan, P. Problems of Industrialisation of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe[J].The Economic Jour-nal,1943,53(210/211):202-211. [9] (英)刘易斯.增长与波动(1870-1913年)[M].梁小民译.北京:华夏出版社,1987.223-224. [10] (美)罗斯托.经济增长的阶段:非共产党宣言[M].郭熙保,王松茂译.北京:中国社会科学出版社,2001. [11] Rostow W. W.Politics and the Stages of Growth[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1971.230. [12] Fagerberg, J., Verspagen, B.‘Modern Capitalism’in the 1970s and 1980s[R].Working Papers Archives 1999002, Centre for Technology,Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo, 1999. [13] Fagerberg J.A Technology Gap Approach to Why Growth Rates Differ[J].Research Policy,1987,16(2-4):87-99. [14] Panda, H., Ramanathan, K.The Role of Technological Capability in Value Addition: The Case of the Electricity Sector[J].Technology Management,1995,2(1):84-100. [15] Lee, K., Kim, B.-Y.Both Institutions and Policies Matter but Differently for Different Income Groups of Countries:Determinants of Long-run Economic Growth Revisited[J].World Development,2009,37(3):533-549. [16] Castellacci F.A Neo-Schumpeterian Approach to Why Growth Rates Difer[J].Revue conomique,2004,55(6):1145-1169. [17] Mohan L.Lakhera. Introduction: Towards an Explanation of the Uneven Growth Experiences[A].Mohan L. Lakhera (ed).Economic Growth in Developing Countries: Struc-tural Transformation, Manufacturing and Transport Inf-rastructure[M].London:Palgrave Macmillan Press,2015.1-23. [18] Falvey R., Foster N., Greenaway D.Relative Backwar-dness or Absorptive Capacity:How Does Knowledge Spill over Across Borders?[R].GEP Research Paper 05/07,The Leverhulme Centre for Globalization and Economic Policy,2005. [19] Lee K.Capability Failure and Industrial Policy to Move beyond the Middle-Income Trap: From Trade-based to Technology-based Specialization[A].Joseph E. Stiglitz, Ju-stin Lin Yifu, Joan Esteban(eds).The Industrial Policy Revolution I[M].London:Palgrave Macmillan Press,2013. 244-272. [20] Gorden Redding.中国空洞的中心及不可见的社会力量对其繁荣发展计划的影响[A].(美)乐文睿,(美)肯尼,(美)穆尔曼主编.中国创新的挑战:跨越中等收入陷阱[M].北京:北京大学出版社,2016.48-74. [21] 侯高岚. 后发优势理论与经济赶超战略[M].北京:知识产权出版社,2005.271-273. [22] 路风,余永定.“双顺差”、能力缺口与自主创新——转变经济发展方式的宏观和微观视野[J].中国社会科学,2012,(6):91-114. [23] 路风.中国经济为什么能够增长[J].中国社会科学,2022.(1):36-62+204-205. [24] 杨先明,邵素军.我国高质量发展的能力基础与能力结构[J].学术探索,2019,(8):67-77. [25] Pritchett L.Understanding Patterns of Economic Growth: Searching for Hills among Plateaus, Mountains, and Plains[J].World Bank Economic Review,2000,14(2):221-250. [26] Andersson, M. Resilience to Economic Shrinking: A Social Capability Approach to Processes of Catching up in the Developing World1951-2016[R].Lund Papers in Economic History,Development Economics,No.183,2018. [27] Abramovitz M.The Elements of Social Capability[A]. Bon Ho Koo, Dwight H. Perkins(eds).Social Capability and Long-term Economic Growth[M].London:Palgrave Macmillan Press,1995.19-47. [28] Acemoglu D.Introduction to Modern Economic Growth[M].New Jersey:Princeton University Press,2009.767-776. [29] Fare R., Grosskopf S., Norris M.et al.Productivity Growth, Technical Progress, and Efficiency Change in Industrialized Countries[J].American Economic Review,1994,84(1):66-83.
2023, Vol. 40 
粤公网安备44030502007936号