Innovation & Inequality: New Indicators from Pharma and Beyond

Maureen Mackintosh (The Open University) presenting Essential drugs supply chains and inequality. View more pictures from the workshop (PDF document, 300 KB)

The workshop brought together innovation economists, economic historians and industrial economists to think creatively about the way that innovation and inequality co-evolve- and how this relationship has changed over the course of capitalism. While this theme was crucial in the analysis of Classical economists, it has been almost forgotten in subsequent studies of innovation and technological change. The observation of rising inequality across and within countries is beginning to resurrect this issue, in particular as it concerns the hypothesis of skill-biased technological change and the impact of a stronger IPR regime at the global level. Recent work has also begun to examine how the financing of R&D - particularly through venture capital and the stock market - may induce corporate strategies and bubbles which may contribute to rising inequality.

The view from an industry dynamics perspective is useful as the relationships above differ between sectors. The case of the bio-pharmaceutical industry is particularly significant and extreme in these respects because it widens the perspective from inequality in income and wealth distribution to other fundamental dimensions of well-being like health and 'access' (to innovations).

The presentations and discussions motivated researchers to think more systematically about a Schumpeterian approach to inequality.

Please visit the Innov-Eq website to learn more about this project.

Workshop organisers

Mariana Mazzucato, The Open University
Luigi Orsenigo, University of Brescia

Workshop programme

Saturday, 15 May 2010: Day 1

Sunday, 16 May 2010: Day 2

  Download the workshop programme (PDF document, 60 KB, updated 2010-05-04)
  Download the workshop leaflet (PDF document, 400 KB, updated 2010-05-04)
  Download the workshop poster (PDF document, 2 MB, updated 2010-04-28)

  Download Consoli background paper (PDF document, 470 KB, updated 2010-05-10)
  Download Loureiro background paper (PDF document, 170 KB, updated 2010-05-10)
  Download post-workshop report (PDF document, 40 KB, updated 2010-06-04)

Workshop sponsors

The Innovation & Inequality workshop is sponsored by the DIME Network of Excellence, The Open University's Centre for Innovation, Knowledge and Development (IKD) and FINNOV, a European Commission FP7 project.