Technological catching up, competitiveness and growth

We build an endogenous growth model for a technologically laggard country and analyse the implications for competitiveness when trade occurs in quality-differentiated products. We find that the conditions for an optimal growth with a balanced current account and no adverse terms-of-trade effects depend on the country's ability to compete in 'quality dominated markets' thanks to a successful technological catching up. We argue that the greater the ability to absorb foreign knowledge and improve upon foreign technologies, the greater the gains in competitiveness, and the benefits to long-run growth. A numerical simulation confirms our findings.