The Effect of Knowledge Components on the Inequality of Global Wealth Distribution

Inequality in global wealth distribution has led to a growing gap between developing and developed countries with regards to income levels, consumption rates, and living standards. In view of that, the difference between these two groups of countries in terms of levels of knowledge and technology infrastructure, human capital, and innovation-based production has been cited as the main reason for inequality in the distribution of global wealth. The present study examines the effect of knowledge components on the inequality of global wealth distribution in the selected leading countries in science, implementing the approach of panel data and the use of generalized moment method for the period 2010-2017. The estimated results demonstrate that the effect of components of economic incentives, institutional regimes, and information and communication technology infrastructure on the inequality of global wealth distribution for the selected countries is negative and significant. Nonetheless, the effect of components of the innovation system, education, and development of human resources on the inequality of global wealth distribution is positive and significant. In addition, the effect of control variables, such as main globalization index and economic globalization, on the inequality of global wealth distribution for the selected countries is positive and significant; Also, the effect of social globalization and political globalization on the inequality of global wealth distribution is not significant.