## Innovation

#### Innovation and potential innovators are restricted by issues like wealth, and wealth used by pharmaceutical companies is oftentimes wasted in large part on advertising.

*   [Bell et al. 19](https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/134/2/647/5218522)
    *   Uses data from 1.2 million inventors from patent records linked to tax records
    *   Finds that **certain characteristics at birth** (gender, race, parents’ socioeconomic class) in addition to **certain environmental characteristics** (exposure to innovation-rich areas, living around innovators) **have a significant correlation with the likelihood of that person becoming an inventor later on in life**
    *   **Women and minorities are exposed less to relevant environmental factors**, explaining why they don’t innovate as much as white men
*   [European Innovation Scoreboard 19](https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/innovation/scoreboards_en)
    *   In Europe, countries with functional safety nets (mainly in Scandinavia and Western Europe) perform better when it comes to innovation
    
    
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