Review

In a breezily written new book, Andrew Leigh and Joshua Gans ask whether innovation and equality can co-exist

By Alison Booth
December 7 2019 - 5:00am
The Segway is an example of an innovation that didn't catch on. Picture: Jan Pawe Bochen/Unsplash
The Segway is an example of an innovation that didn't catch on. Picture: Jan Pawe Bochen/Unsplash

It is commonly argued that inequality is the price we have to pay for innovation. But is this a false trade-off? Gans and Leigh argue that it is. Indeed, a central argument of their volume is that there are many ways in which a society can increase innovation and equality.