Cycles of Economic and Technological Change in Latecomer Aerospace Industries = A gazdasági és technológiai változás ciklusai a repülőgépgyártás későn jövőinek tükrében

Abstract

This dissertation aims to describe and explain the forces behind catch-up and eventual changes in industrial leadership through the case of the aircraft industry. It addresses the long-term transformation of developing countries intro advanced industrialized ones and the entry and catch-up of latecomer companies. Such processes bring about a change in the global distribution of labour, in the interdependence of economies, expand and deepen technological capabilities of the world, and reshuffles centers of global political power. The aircraft industry lies at the center of these processes in all its aspects: it is a capital- and knowledge-intensive, strategic sector, characterised by high value added and high incomes (Prencipe, 2013). The investigation relies on various strands of literature: on the seminal works addressing latecomer industrialization and the role of the state in this process, and on neo-Schumpeterian studies of technological change and innovation.