The Financial Express:
Study shows income-disparity in early-life is strongly correlated to later-life fulfilment of innovation potential
29 December 2017
While there could be many factors hobbling innovation, findings of a recent study by Alex Bell, Raj Chetty, Xavier Jaravel, Neviana Petkova, and John Van Reenen—who are associated with various American institutions and, in the case of Jaravel, with and English one—throw up a host of interesting takes on this and also one whether current policy measures are indeed the right ones to spur innovation. Bell et al studied the lives of more than 1 million inventors in the US and found that large disparities in innovation rates exist, influenced by socioeconomic class, race and gender.
Related publications
‘Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation’, Alex Bell, Raj Chetty, Xavier Jaravel, Neviana Petkova and John Van Reenen, mimeo, December 2017
http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/assets/documents/inventors_paper.pdf