Foreign technology acquisition policy and firm performance in Japan, 1957-1970: Micro-aspects of industrial policy

We examine the determinants and effects of technology acquisition licensing using firm-level data between 1957 and 1970. Our results indicate that in technology acquisition licensing, the government screened a firm's application based on (i) the industry that the firm belonged to and (ii) its past experience of technology acquisition. As a result, inefficient firms with considerable experience tended to acquire more technologies before deregulation. Despite this screening process, the technology acquisition policy contributes to improve a firm performance: The firms with acquired technology succeeded in capital accumulation, which results in much faster growth of labor productivity.