Technology transfer and early industrial development: The case of the Sino-Soviet Alliance

Understanding which industrial policies work is important to promote the development of poorer countries. This column examines the effects of technology and knowledge transfers on early industrial development, using evidence from the Sino-Soviet Alliance in the 1950s. The authors find that simultaneously receiving technologically advanced capital goods and know-how transfer had large, persistent effects on plant performance, while the effects of receiving capital only were short-lived. The know-how component was essential to generate horizontal and vertical spillovers and production reallocation from state-owned to privately owned companies since the late 1990s.