Innovation Systems and Income Inequality: In Search of Causal Mechanisms : WestminsterResearch

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Title	Innovation Systems and Income Inequality: In Search of Causal Mechanisms
Authors	Fragkandreas, T.
Type	Working paper
Abstract	How does innovation as a collective (multi-actor) activity shape the distribution of income in contemporary societies? To address this largely under-researched, and thus also under-theorised, question, the present paper develops a novel conceptual model based on a synthesis of the literature on innovation systems, relational inequality theory, and critical realist causal mechanisms theory. Drawing upon an in-depth, mixed-method case study analysis, this paper demonstrates how the strategies of focal actors (e.g., firms, universities, research institutes, policy organisations) combine with the causal abilities of the innovation system under investigation to form seven causal mechanisms of (in)equality: five inequality-inducing causal mechanisms (competence concentration, income hoarding, skill premiums, precarious employment, and old-age technological unemployment) and two inequality-reducing causal mechanisms (gender-inclusive competence-building and employment). The findings contribute to, among other issues, a rapidly-growing concern with the question of rising inequality within the field of innovation studies, while also having an important policy implication: achieving inclusive growth through innovation requires, among other things, the formation of ‘strategy synergies’ among focal (triple-helix) actors in innovation systems.
Keywords	Innovation systems
	income inequality
	relational inequality theory
	causal mechanisms
	critical realism
	Germany
Year	2021
Publisher	Birkbeck College, University of London
Published	Nov 2021
ISSN	2052-062X
Web address (URL)	http://www.bbk.ac.uk/cimr/publications/working-papers/
	https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/47605/

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Innovation Systems and Income Inequality: In Search of Causal Mechanisms

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