R&D intensity and income inequality in the G7: 1870–2016

We examine how R&D has contributed to income inequality in the Group of Seven countries from 1870 to 2016. Using newly developed panel data models that incorporate interactive fixed effects, we find that R&D is negatively associated with income inequality. Non-parametric models that allow us to capture the time-varying effect of R&D suggest that this average effect has been negative for most of this period. We find that economic growth and trade are important mechanisms through which R&D transmits to income inequality.