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Innovation, Growth, and Inequality: Plausible Scenarios of Wage Disparities in a World with Nanotechnologies

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Nanotechnology and the Challenges of Equity, Equality and Development

Part of the book series: Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society ((YNTS,volume 2))

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Abstract

Walter Valdivia provides another economic analysis of the patterns nanotechnology is weaving. Although much growth theory neglects distributional issues, one version considers the income dynamics connected to the diffusion of a new general purpose technology (GPT). A GPT is a technology that causes widespread change because it radically affects the productivity of many other technologies. Because nanotechnology research is so pervasive in the sciences and engineering, many observers are working with the assumption that it will be as important a GPT as computing technology. Using a model proposed by Philippe Aghion to explain the relationship between skill and the diffusion of a GPT, Valdivia analyzes ways wage inequality might appear in several possible paths for the development of nanotechnologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Walter D. Valdivia

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  1. Walter D. Valdivia
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Correspondence to Walter D. Valdivia .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Oak Brooke Way 1147, Atlanta, 30319, USA

    Susan E. Cozzens

  2. Center for Nanotechnology in Society, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Jameson Wetmore

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Valdivia, W.D. (2010). Innovation, Growth, and Inequality: Plausible Scenarios of Wage Disparities in a World with Nanotechnologies. In: Cozzens, S., Wetmore, J. (eds) Nanotechnology and the Challenges of Equity, Equality and Development. Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9615-9_9

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