除了“规模经济与不完全竞争”的贸易学说外,技术作为外生变量上的差异亦被用来说明发达工业国家之间和同类产品之间的贸易,马库森和斯文森(Makusen and Svenson,1985)在他们的研究中假设两国的资源配置比例和需求偏好都是相同的。产品生产需用两种以上的要素投入,但不具有规模经济。但如果两国在生产技术上有某种细微的差别,劳动生产率就会略有不同。在两国的贸易中,各国都会出口其要素生产率相对高的产品。
贸易理论的另外一方面发展是将技术视为内生变量来分析,研究技术变动的原因,也研究技术的进步作为生产和贸易的结果对贸易模式与社会福利的影响。技术变动有两种源泉,一种是被动的,不是经过专门研究开发出来的,而是从看中、干中学会的,是通过经济行为学来的,这叫“干中学”(learningby doing)。这里所说的技术不光是生产技术,还包括管理知识。另外一种是主动的,是自己创造出来的。这种技术变动是一种革新(innovation)。技术革新一般是研究和发展(Research and Development,简称R&D)的结果。
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