Income inequality is a source of social instability and armed conflict, which in turn are detrimental to economic development. This study examines the role of innovation in income inequality in twenty-three developed countries, using a panel mean group estimator that takes cross-sectional dependence into consideration. Three income inequality indicators are used: the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID), the University of Texas Inequality Project (UTIP), and the Estimated Household Income Inequality (EHII). The innovation indicators are patent applications and patents granted. The empirical results based on the common correlated effect mean group (CCEMG) reveal that innovation widens income inequality. We also investigate whether the innovation–income inequality nexus is subject to a country’s level of globalization and financial development. The findings suggest that the interaction terms between innovation with these two variables have positive effects on income inequality, whereas innovation failed to reduce income inequality. Globalization and financial development are found to drive income inequality. The empirical results are robust to different income inequality and innovation measures as well as estimation techniques.

收入不平等是社会不稳定和武装冲突的根源，反过来又不利于经济发展。这项研究使用面板平均组估计量（考虑了横截面依赖性），研究了创新在23个发达国家中的收入不平等中的作用。使用了三个收入不平等指标：标准化的世界收入不平等数据库（SWIID），德克萨斯大学不平等项目（UTIP）和估计的家庭收入不平等（EHII）。创新指标是专利申请和已授予的专利。基于共同相关效应均值组（CCEMG）的实证结果表明，创新扩大了收入不平等。我们还研究了创新与收入不平等之间的联系是否受一个国家的全球化和金融发展水平的影响。研究结果表明，创新与这两个变量之间的相互作用对收入不平等具有积极影响，而创新未能减少收入不平等。人们发现，全球化和金融发展会加剧收入不平等。实证结果对于不同的收入不平等，创新措施以及估算技术具有鲁棒性。