在过去经济快速增长的几十年里,韩国的大部分技术还在以更快速度缩小与美国的差距,而中国的大部分技术与美国的差距正在加大或保持不变。新技术比旧技术以更快的速度进入中国和韩国并在国内扩散,然而无论是旧技术还是新技术,这些技术绝大部分在韩国扩散的速度比中国快。技术扩散差异为人均收入曾经处在同一水平,之后却出现巨大差异的中国和韩国两国的经济增长提供了一个很好的解释。
Due to most technologies coming from advanced countries, technology progress is determined by technology diffusion in developing countries. As far as usage efficiency is concerned, technology diffusion in China and South Korea in the past 40 years shows the gap between South Korea and the U. S. in most technologies become smaller, but expand be- tween China and the U.S. ; New technologies enter into China and South Korea at faster pace than old technologies. Most technologies diffuse at faster pace in South Korea that in China. The difference between technology diffusion gives a good explanation for a huge gap in GDP per capita of China and South Korea, which got the same level of GDP per capita in 1960s.