Will Technological Developments Disrupt Income Distribution in the Near Future?

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship between human factors, technological advancements, global shifts, labour structure, and income inequality across 21 selected upper-middle-income and high-income countries from 2008 to 2021. The study utilises variables such as high-tech exports, the human capital index, the misery index, the share of R&D expenditures in GDP, skilled and unskilled labour, patent counts, and the Global Innovation Index. The results from the one-and two-step GMM methods indicate that skilled and unskilled labour and the human capital index have significant positive effects on income distribution. In contrast, the misery index, high-tech exports, and patent counts are found to exacerbate income inequality. However, the global innovation index does not exhibit a significant effect in either analysis.