국내 광(光)산업의 기술발전이 관련산업 수출입에 미치는 영향

The Effects of Technological Progress of the Domestic Photonics Industry on Imports and Exports of Related Industries

Purpose This study analyzed the effects of technological development in the domestic photonics industry on the economy of South Korea and other countries. Design/Methodology/Approach The GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) model was used among computable general equilibrium (CGE) models that can explain not only interactions by economic sectors but also changes in macroeconomic variables. Findings Empirical results showed that if productivity increases due to the technological development of Korea’s photonics industry;economic indicators such as GDP and exports volume improve. Second;production and sales volume of the domestic photonics industry increased;but the market price index of the sector fall. This is probably because labor;land;and capital become more concentrated in the photonics industry due to increased productivity of the sector. Third;as the technological development level of the photonics industry grows;import increase exceeds export increase. The increase in imports is believed to be due to relatively high dependence of the downstream industry on imports. Research Implications This study contributes to the extant literature in analyzing how technological changes in the photonics industry;which is said to be a core technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution;affects domestic industries. It shows that if import dependence of the downstream industry of the sector remains high;increases in imports will be larger than increases in exports even if productivity increases. This suggests the need for the development of source technology and for expansion of support policy toward core parts of the photonics industry to lower import dependence of the photonics industry.