Distributional Assessment of Emerging Technologies: Case Studies in the Americas

尽管经历了几十年的强劲经济增长，全球不平等问题仍然很大。国家内部的不平等显然在上升，大多数贫穷国家并没有缩小生活水平的全球差距。新兴技术是一个战略研究场所，可用来研究国家之间的不平等和国家内部的不平等之间的相互作用。从概念上讲，新兴技术在本项目中被定义为新的和基于研究的技术，具有潜在的广泛影响。在业务上，该项目研究选定的生物技术和信息和通信技术的实际分布后果。然后，这些例子被用来开发一个框架，思考其他新兴技术的分布后果。该框架是测试在项目的后期阶段对什么是已知的，并预计有关纳米技术的分布后果。为什么要在这个项目中研究新兴技术？首先，正是因为它们是新的。新兴技术是全球和地方经济变革和增长的场所。其次，由于新兴技术是以研究为基础的，它们更有可能以高价出售（因为公司试图收回研究和开发成本），并要求生产过程中的高水平技能。这两个特点使新兴技术比旧技术更有可能加剧获取和就业方面的不平等。第三，新兴技术处于全球和国家分配进程的交叉点。它们可以将富裕国家的经济需求注入不太富裕的经济体，也可以作为经济和人类发展的工具。这项研究提供了一个机会，以检查这两种模式的行动。它假设现实比“占主导地位的北方”或“乐观的南方”的观点更为复杂，因此它描述了新兴技术在不同国家背景下产生的实际分配动态。该项目为一套相互关联的案例研究收集数据并综合其结果，每一个案例研究都包括一个国家-技术配对。该研究旨在（1）描述新兴技术与不平等模式之间的联系;（2）确定公共干预在这些动态中的作用;（3）制定一个框架，政策参与者可以前瞻性地使用该框架来分析特定国家背景下特定新技术的分布价值。欧洲和非洲部分的工作已经得到欧洲联盟委员会的资助。智力上的优点。该项目探讨了一个在科学和技术政策研究以及对全球不平等动态的更广泛的社会科学分析中都很重要的主题。它是在一个丰富的比较框架内，在健全的经验基础上进行这项工作的，这个框架允许各国在技术范围内进行分析，也允许各国在技术范围内进行分析。该研究纳入了定性和定量信息，可能有助于制定影响指标和创新政策实践。更广泛的影响。该研究在博士培训计划中进行，并支持一名博士生和两名博士后学者。该团队是多元化的，我们有拉丁美洲和非洲的合作者以及欧洲的合作者。除了向实地学者广泛传播外，该计划还包括与政策受众接触。通过这些受众，研究结果可以影响许多国家减少贫穷和不平等的努力。

Despite decades of strong economic growth, the problem of global inequality is still large. Within-country inequality is clearly on the rise, and most poor nations are not closing the global gap in standard of living. Emerging technologies are a strategic research site for examining the interaction of inequalities between countries and inequalities within countries. Conceptually, emerging technologies are defined in this project as new and research-based, with potential broad impact. Operationally, the project studies the actual distributional consequences of selected biotechnologies and information and communication technologies (ICTs). These examples are then used to develop a framework for thinking about the distributional consequences of other emerging technologies. The framework is tested in the latter stages of the project against what is known and projected about the distributional consequences of nanotechnologies. Why study emerging technologies in this project? First, precisely because they are new. Emerging technologies are the site of change and growth in both global and local economies. Second, because emerging technologies are research-based, they are more likely to be sold at high prices (as firms try to recoup research and development costs) and to demand high levels of skills in the production process. Both these characteristics give emerging technologies a higher potential than older technologies for increasing inequalities in access and employment. Third, emerging technologies stand at the intersection of global and national distributive processes. They may insert the economic needs of affluent countries into less affluent economies, or they may serve as tools of economic and human development. This study provides an opportunity to examine both of these patterns in action. It assumes that reality is more complex than either the 'dominating North' or 'optimistic South' views, so it describes the actual distributional dynamics generated by emerging technologies in various national contexts. This project collects data for and synthesizes results of an interlocking set of case studies, each of which consists of a country-technology pair. The research aims to (1) describe the dynamics that link emerging technologies to patterns of inequality; (2) identify the roles of public interventions in those dynamics; and (3) develop a framework that policy actors can use prospectively to analyze the distributional valence of a specific new technology in a particular national context. The European and African portions of the work have already been funded by the European Commission. Intellectual merit. The project examines a topic that is important both within science and technology policy studies and the broader social science analysis of the dynamics of global inequality. It does this on a sound empirical basis within a rich comparative framework that allows analysis by countries within technologies and by technologies within countries. The study incorporates both qualitative and quantitative information and is likely to contribute to the development of impact indicators as well as innovation policy practice. Broader impacts. The study takes place in a doctoral training program and supports one doctoral student and two postdoctoral scholars. The team is diverse, and we have Latin American and African collaborators as well as European ones. In addition to broad dissemination to scholars in the field, the plan includes engagement with policy audiences. Through these audiences, the results of the research could influence efforts to reduce poverty and inequalities in many national contexts.