Innovation and Inequality

Abstract

Global inequality is a changing phenomenon molded by a variety of interlocking dynamic forces. Technological change is one of these. If we picture the world system as a cross-tabulation of nation states and technological capabilities, we see a core of advanced and advancing nations, a small set of countries rapidly developing their capabilities, and a large number of countries struggling to maintain or build (Sagasti 2004). These groups correspond roughly to the economic hierarchy of nations, in which only four countries have moved into the top group in the last five decades: South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong (Milanovic 2005). It is no accident that these four are also the models constantly offered for technology-based economic development.