Technological Progress and Inequality: An Ambiguous Relationship

Faster technological change does not necessarily widen wage inequality. This occurs only if technical progress takes the form of product improvements. Conversely, cost-reducing innovation favors a reduction in inequality. This novel result is obtained in a theoretical framework in which individuals can choose both the quality of the equipment and the retooling time. The main implication of this work is that the rapid decline of the durable goods’ price documented in the postwar period, and especially since the 1970s, should have favored a reduction in income inequality. The popular view that attributes the rise in inequality to the spread of information technologies is questioned by this analysis.