Technological dependency and external restriction: conceptual contributions for its understanding. A quantification exercise for the Province of Buenos Aires

Abstract

This article aims to inquire about the impact of the importation of goods with a high technological content on the processes of accumulation and economic growth in unbalanced productive structures such as Argentina. In particular, it is proposed that the inability to develop and scale technologies at the local level operates as an additional restriction on the external restriction, reinforcing dynamics of technological dependence of peripheral countries towards central ones.

Additionally, we make a quantitative estimate of the total amount of high technological imports for the Province of Buenos Aires. Based on this approximation, and the use of existing capacities in the productive framework and the CTI system, an exercise is carried out regarding the potential foreign exchange savings derived from the substitution of imports in said items. As a guide, this exercise aims to make visible opportunities for effective substitution that could be inputs for the design of sectoral public policies.