Distributional Assessment of Emerging Technologies: Case Studies in the Americas

尽管经历了数十年的强劲经济增长，但全球不平等问题依然严重。国家内部的不平等明显在加剧，大多数贫穷国家并没有缩小全球生活水平的差距。新兴技术是研究国家间不平等和国家内部不平等相互作用的战略研究场所。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，具有潜在的广泛影响。在操作上，该项目研究选定的生物技术和信息通信技术（ict）的实际分布后果。然后，这些例子被用来开发一个框架，用于思考其他新兴技术的分配后果。在项目的后期阶段，该框架将根据已知和预测的纳米技术的分布后果进行测试。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（因为企业试图收回研发成本），并且在生产过程中需要高水平的技能。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过程的交叉点。它们可能把富裕国家的经济需要插入不太富裕的经济体，或者它们可能成为经济和人类发展的工具。这项研究为研究这两种模式提供了一个机会。它假设现实比“主导北方”或“乐观南方”的观点更复杂，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。本项目收集数据并综合一系列相互关联的案例研究的结果，每个案例研究由一个国家-技术对组成。本研究旨在(1)描述将新兴技术与不平等模式联系起来的动态；(2)确定公共干预在这些动态中的作用；(3)制定一个框架，政策参与者可以使用该框架前瞻性地分析特定新技术在特定国家背景下的分配价。这项工作的欧洲和非洲部分已经得到欧洲委员会的资助。知识价值。该项目研究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。它在一个丰富的比较框架内以可靠的经验为基础进行这项工作，该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。该研究结合了定性和定量信息，可能有助于制定影响指标以及创新政策实践。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。我们的团队是多元化的，我们有拉丁美洲和非洲的合作者，也有欧洲的合作者。除了向该领域的学者广泛传播外，该计划还包括与政策受众的接触。通过这些受众，研究结果可以影响在许多国家背景下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.