Deck 10: The International Knowledge Structure: Controlling Flows of Information and Technology

Question 1

According to Balaam and Dillman, what four major trends in the international knowledge structure have become apparent over the last few decades? Comment on their potentially unsettling or liberating effects.

Answer 1

No Answer.

Question 2

Describe some ways that governments try to foster innovation in society.

Answer 2

No Answer.

Question 3

What are some of the likely reasons why the United States opposes the norm of information sovereignty and policies requiring data localization?

Answer 3

No Answer.

Question 4

For what reasons might it be in a country's national interest to regulate TNCs' access to Big Data and strictly regulate information technology companies and digital services providers?

Question 5

Why do some scholars think that financialization has negative long-term effects on rates of innovation?

Question 6

Discuss U.S. policies to protect national technology and government information. Why does the United States have such a strong interest in this protection?

Question 7

What are Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and why are they important in today's global markets? Briefly compare and contrast the mercantilist, liberal, and structuralist views on IPRs.

Question 8

Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is a controversial agreement. Why?

Question 9

How can a nation create comparative advantage in knowledge-intensive industries? What roles are played by governments and private businesses?

Question 10

What differences over IPRs are there between the United States and other developed countries?

Question 11

Which of the following do Balaam and Dillman posit is an important trend in the knowledge structure over the last twenty years?

A) Human capital and technology are becoming less important than control of land and natural resources for wealth generation.
B) Global profits are increasingly shifting to those who own knowledge and control distribution of knowledge-intensive goods and services.
C) Knowledge is becoming less dispersed and easier for countries to control.
D) There is a general consensus that most new technology should be in the public domain.

Question 12

Which person is the leading force behind Wikileaks?

A) Chelsea Manning
B) Edward Snowden
C) Julian Assange
D) Shoshana Zuboff

Question 13

Which statement is inaccurate?

A) The United States advocates for information sovereignty.
B) The United States believes that information should usually be treated as an unpoliticized commodity governed by free trade principles.
C) The United States is against data localization rules.
D) The United States has a surplus in trade of digital and digitally-enabled services.

Question 14

Which of the following scholars argues that the state should have a large role in funding national R&D and fostering innovation?

A) Robert McChesney
B) Shoshana Zuboff
C) Joseph Schumpeter
D) Mariana Mazzucato

Question 15

Which of the following is not a government innovation policy in developed countries?

A) controls on technology exports
B) venture capital to small private firms
C) green procurement
D) the Creative Commons movement

Question 16

Which of the following statement is correct?

A) The United States spends more money on R&D each year than any other OECD country.
B) R&D has become less internationalized since the 1990s.
C) In the EU and the United States, most R&D is funded by the government.
D) R&D spending as a percentage of GDP is higher in the United States than in Japan.

Question 17

Financialization is closely associated with each of the following except

A) shareholder value theory.
B) increased stock buybacks.
C) "impatient" investors such as private equity funds.
D) higher levels of R&D spending over the long term.

Question 18

The United States seeks to prevent foreign countries from accessing U.S. advanced technology by

A) establishing deemed export controls.
B) having CFIUS scrutinize foreign investments in the United States.
C) limiting exports of dual-use technologies.
D) all of the above.

Question 19

Which of the following policies would an IPE scholar probably not consider to be mercantilist?

A) deemed export controls
B) Made in China 2025
C) Optional Practical Training (OPT)
D) "cash-for-citizenship"
E) implementation of shareholder value theory

Question 20

IPRs are an important issue for developing countries because

A) they need technology transfer for economic development.
B) they would like to move up in global value chains.
C) the cost of licensing IPRs from companies in industrialized nations can be high.
D) all of these are important reasons.

Question 21

The act of a state allowing a domestic private company or government body to produce and sell a good under patent without the consent of the patent holder is called

A) parallel importing.
B) tiered pricing.
C) compulsory licensing.
D) fair use.

Question 22

Which of the following statements would an economic liberal probably agree with?

A) Technological laggards need to fight for more "policy space" in IPRs.
B) Developed countries use IPRs to monopolize Third World markets.
C) Economic elites always seek to create private property rights from socially-produced knowledge.
D) Strong IPRs create incentives for creativity and innovation.

Question 23

What is the triple helix?

A) a regime to strengthen patents, copyrights, and trademarks
B) interactions between universities, businesses, and government to foster innovation
C) the development of more efficient, lower-cost production techniques
D) an effort by the United States, the European Union, and Japan to protect patent rights in developing countries

Question 24

Which of the following is an example of efforts by developing countries to advance their interests in the face of strong IPRs?

A) turning a blind eye to counterfeiting of foreign goods
B) lobbying for weakening of the TRIPS agreement
C) issuing compulsory licenses
D) all of the above

Question 25

Which of the following is probably the least controversial intellectual property issue?

A) TRIPS
B) access to patented medicines
C) use of trademarks to prevent consumer confusion
D) protection of traditional knowledge

Question 26

Which statement about copyrights is correct?

A) The TRIPS agreement stipulates a minimum time period for which member states must give protection to them.
B) They confer exclusive rights over an invention for 20 years.
C) They protect an idea, not the expression of an idea.
D) They are signs and symbols to protect goods and services.

Question 27

Which statement reflects the position of a "balancer" on IPRs?

A) Knowledge is shared; no one should own rights over it.
B) The stronger the IP protection, the more innovation a society will have.
C) There should be generous allowances for fair use of intellectual property.
D) _{Very little IPR protection is necessary to create an incentive for innovation.}