A data envelopment model to compare technological excellence and export sales in Israel and European Community countries

How efficiently do countries translate scientific and technological excellence into export comparative advantage? Here the use of science and technology in generating exports is first modelled as a two-stage process. A variant of linear programming (data envelopment analysis, DEA) is then employed to estimate the relative efficiency of Israel and the European Community countries in converting scientific and technological excellence into exports of R&D-intensive products. Israel and Germany are more efficient than other European nations in the production of S&T outputs, but Israel is far less efficient than EC countries in utilising its S&T base of excellence to create high-technology exports. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.