In this lecture, it is argued that Schumpeterian Growth Theory, in which growth is driven by a sequence of quality-improving innovations, can shed light on two important puzzles raised by the recent evolution of wage inequality in developed economies. The first puzzle concerns wage inequality...

Can directed technical change be used to combat climate change? We construct new firm-level panel data on auto industry innovation distinguishing between dirty (internal combustion engine) and clean (e.g. electric and hybrid) patents across 80 countries over several decades. We show that firms...