The relationship between innovation and inequality - The case of Brazil in the last decade

Abstract: This work aims to explore the relationship between innovation and inequality, specificly in Brazil in the last decade. Innovation in one hand t is an unquestioned driver of growth, while inequality in the other is a major economic problem, one that arguably hinders growth. Using literature review and three types of analysis, (1) the global innovation index together with the world bank gini index, (2) questions and answers from the World Value Survey and (3) another survey designed to this work, we were able to identify a negative relationship between them, what goes according to the previous intuition: low levels of inequality come together with high innovativeness; high inequality is connected with low innovation levels. Furthermore, this work is along the lines of the literature, as it shows that this relationship has other economic variables, i. e. education, employment, and knowledge building. National innovation systems should then address policies such as inclusive innovation in order to really develop, especially in the countries of the South – the case of Brazil.