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We devise a Directed Technical Change (DTC) multisector Schumpeterian growth model in which both wage inequality and wage polarization are analysed. To that end, we introduced tasks in the model, some of which can be automated -replaced by robots or machines -, thus combining the DTC and task-based growth literature in an unified framework. This model produces positive relationships both (i) between the relative supply of high-skilled workers and the skill premium and (ii) between automation and wage polarization. Moreover, within the model, we analyse Lobbying as an activity that can affect the wage distribution and integrate it in the strategic interations between firms. We find that it can reduce the effects of automation on wage polarization, and through this channel possibly affecting the wage distribution without affecting the skill premium.

This article analyses the balanced‐growth‐path effects of monetary policy (inflation) on the skill premium and the growth rate in the context of a directed technical change model with cash‐in‐advance (CIA) constraints specific to the unskilled and skilled sectors. Calibrating the model using data from 36 countries, the presence of more stringent CIA constraints in the unskilled sector, as supported by the literature, causes inflation to have a positive effect on the skill premium. Moreover, it also increases the negative impact of inflation on the growth rate in relation to the baseline scenario of homogeneous CIA constraints. A lower labour share and higher inflation in general magnify these effects on both variables while a relative lower importance of the unskilled sector does the opposite with respect to the skill premium. Therefore this article innovates in three important ways: (i) we add an additional channel through which inflation affects inequality; (ii) we highlight the importance of avoiding ignoring differences of liquidity constraints across the economy in the context of endogenous growth models to not underestimate the negative long‐run impacts of inflation; (iii) the results suggest that developing countries that have difficulty in achieving price stability in the long‐run can mitigate the negative effects of inflation by reducing constraints faced by the unskilled sector and promoting the development of the skilled sector.

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