Inequalities and STI policies: impact analysis

ABSTRACT

As inequality rises around the world, practitioners of science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy need to consider their roles in exacerbating or mitigating it. Unless they are specifically designed to do otherwise, national and regional STI policies tend to increase inequality. Alternative designs are available, however, to use STI policy in ways that improve lives in low-resource households, reduce horizontal inequalities, and help to close the gaps between rich and poor. The size of the impact of these options is impossible to determine with current information but the potential is significant.

KEYWORDS:

• Inequality‌
• STI policy
• inclusive innovation
• frugal innovation‌
• grassroots innovation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Elizabeth Warren – Inequality.org; Addressing Economic Inequality: Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax Proposal (closeup.org).

2 THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development (un.org), retrieved May 2, 2021.

3 Forbes Billionaires 2021: The Richest People in the World, retrieved May 2, 2021.

4 Home – ITT | INSTITUTE FOR TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGIES, accessed May 2, 2021.

5 India States Briefs – Kerala (worldbank.org), accessed May 2, 2021.

6 For example, in the United States, using the Regional Economic Impact Tool provided by the Bureau of Economic analysis.

7 The numbers refer to the observation that only 10% of the world’s research spending is devoted to diseases that create 90% of mortality. See Stevens (2004).

8 Home – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

9 The Carter Center News and International Affairs Story, accessed May 2, 2021.