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Are Innovative Regions More Unequal? Evidence from Europe

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  • Neil Lee

    (Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England)

Abstract

Studies of the United States have suggested that the most innovative areas are also the most unequal. There are a number of potential processes that might lead to this. Innovation may raise the return of human capital in ways which can lead to localised inequality. Innovative industries may be subject to greater wage polarisation or offer more erratic returns than other industries. Moreover, the affluent may hire others to work in poorly paid personal service employment nearby. However, while there is some evidence for these processes in the US, whether this applies in the European case is less certain. I use the European Community Household Panel and the Eurostat Regio database to test the link between innovation and wage inequality in a panel of European regions for the period 1996–2001. Two measures of innovation are used: employment in knowledge-based industries and the level of patenting in a region. The results are indicative of a positive link between regional innovation, as measured by patenting, and inequality. In contrast, there is little evidence of a link between knowledge-based industries and inequality, with the exception of a positive relationship between employment in knowledge-intensive financial services and inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil Lee, 2011. "Are Innovative Regions More Unequal? Evidence from Europe," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(1), pages 2-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:29:y:2011:i:1:p:2-23
    DOI: 10.1068/c1046r
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    Cited by:

    1. Lawrence Adu Asamoah & Francesco Figari & Andrea Vezzulli, 2021. "Spillover effects of innovation and entrepreneurial activity on income inequality in developing countries: A spatial panel approach," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 1661-1686, October.
    2. Thanos Fragkandreas, 2022. "Three Decades of Research on Innovation and Inequality: Causal Scenarios, Explanatory Factors, and Suggestions," Working Papers 60, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Feb 2022.
    3. Sinha, Avik & Sengupta, Tuhin & Kalugina, Olga & Gulzar, Muhammad Awais, 2020. "Does distribution of energy innovation impact distribution of income: A quantile-based SDG modeling approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Neil Lee & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2016. "Is There Trickle-Down from Tech? Poverty, Employment, and the High-Technology Multiplier in U.S. Cities," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 106(5), pages 1114-1134, September.
    5. Sébastien Breau & Dieter F. Kogler & Kenyon C. Bolton, 2014. "On the Relationship between Innovation and Wage Inequality: New Evidence from Canadian Cities," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 90(4), pages 351-373, October.
    6. Neil Lee & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2013. "Innovation and spatial inequality in Europe and USA," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, January.
    7. Murat Cetin & Harun Demir & Selin Saygin, 2021. "Financial Development, Technological Innovation and Income Inequality: Time Series Evidence from Turkey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 47-69, July.
    8. Asma Kanwal & Nwakego Eyisi, 2023. "Income Inequality and Frontend Innovation: Evidence from Frontier Markets," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(1), pages 255-286, March.
    9. Brzezinski, Michal, 2022. "Does income redistribution impede innovation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    10. Argentino Pessoa, 2016. "Rectracted: Smart specialization in the EU: RIS3 conditionality, innovation and cohesion," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 439-439, June.
    11. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Bin Peng & Russell Smyth & Quanda Zhang, 2022. "R&D intensity and income inequality in the G7: 1870–2016," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 69(3), pages 263-282, July.
    12. Flavio L. Pinheiro & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Dominik Hartmann, 2022. "The Dark Side of the Geography of Innovation. Relatedness, Complexity, and Regional Inequality in Europe," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2202, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2022.
    13. Thanos Fragkandreas, 2021. "Innovation Systems and Income Inequality: In Search of Causal Mechanisms," Working Papers 56, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Nov 2021.
    14. Meir Russ & Gaurav Bansal & Adam Parrillo, 2017. "The “Knowledge City” and the “Experience City”: the Main, Mediating, and Moderating Effects of Education on Income and Economic Inequality," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(3), pages 804-829, September.
    15. Lee, Neil & Clarke, Stephen, 2019. "Do low-skilled workers gain from high-tech employment growth? High-technology multipliers, employment and wages in Britain," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    16. Neil Lee & Stephen Clarke, 2017. "Who gains from high-tech growth? High-technology multipliers, employment and wages in Britain," SPRU Working Paper Series 2017-14, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    17. Argentino Pessoa, 2014. "Smart Specialisation in the EU: Is it a Bridge between Innovation and Cohesion?," ERSA conference papers ersa14p989, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Benos, Nikos & Tsiachtsiras, Georgios, 2019. "Innovation and Income Inequality: World Evidence," MPRA Paper 92050, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Nicola Cortinovis & Dongmiao Zhang & Ron Boschma, 2022. "Regional diversification and intra-regional wage inequality in the Netherlands," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2216, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2022.
    20. Neil Lee & Paul Sissons & Katy Jones, 2016. "The Geography of Wage Inequality in British Cities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1714-1727, October.
    21. Benos, Nikos & Tsiachtsiras, Georgios, 2018. "Innovation and Inequality: World Evidence," MPRA Paper 89217, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Trine Kvidal & Elisabet Ljunggren, 2014. "Introducing Gender in a Policy Programme: A Multilevel Analysis of an Innovation Policy Programme," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 32(1), pages 39-53, February.

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