{"id":2855,"date":"2025-08-01T08:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T11:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madeusp.com.br\/?post_type=made_publication&#038;p=2855"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:37:53","slug":"workers-trying-to-climb-the-income-ladder-debt-financed-knowledge-capital-accumulation-and-distributive-conflict","status":"publish","type":"made_publication","link":"https:\/\/madeusp.com.br\/en\/publicacoes\/artigos\/workers-trying-to-climb-the-income-ladder-debt-financed-knowledge-capital-accumulation-and-distributive-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Workers trying to climb the income ladder: debt-financed knowledge capital accumulation and distributive conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This paper explo\u00adres the two-way rela\u00adti\u00adonship betwe\u00aden wor\u00adkers\u2019 invest\u00adment in kno\u00adwled\u00adge capi\u00adtal, fun\u00added through inco\u00adme-con\u00adtin\u00adgent loans, and func\u00adti\u00ado\u00adnal inco\u00adme dis\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adti\u00adon within a demand-led macrody\u00adna\u00admic fra\u00admework. Real wage growth is posi\u00adti\u00advely influ\u00aden\u00adced by the employ\u00adment rate (whi\u00adch equals the uti\u00adli\u00adza\u00adti\u00adon rate of kno\u00adwled\u00adge capi\u00adtal) and the growth of labor pro\u00adduc\u00adti\u00advity (whi\u00adch equals the growth of kno\u00adwled\u00adge capi\u00adtal), and nega\u00adti\u00advely by the ratio of wor\u00adkers\u2019 debt to kno\u00adwled\u00adge capi\u00adtal. In the short-run equi\u00adli\u00adbrium, the level of eco\u00adno\u00admic acti\u00advity is posi\u00adti\u00advely influ\u00aden\u00adced by the labor sha\u00adre of inco\u00adme. In the uni\u00adque long-run equilibrium\u2014which is sta\u00adble as long as the res\u00adpon\u00adse of real wage growth to the wor\u00adkers\u2019 debt ratio is not too strong\u2014parameter chan\u00adges that boost aggre\u00adga\u00adte demand or strengthen wor\u00adkers\u2019 bar\u00adgai\u00adning power in wage nego\u00adti\u00ada\u00adti\u00adons (with the excep\u00adti\u00adon of the para\u00adme\u00adter medi\u00ada\u00adting the posi\u00adti\u00adve effect of the expec\u00adted real wage inco\u00adme on invest\u00adment in kno\u00adwled\u00adge capi\u00adtal) result in a higher labor sha\u00adre and a lower wor\u00adkers\u2019 debt ratio. Whi\u00adle gre\u00ada\u00adter invest\u00adment in kno\u00adwled\u00adge capi\u00adtal rai\u00adses the level of eco\u00adno\u00admic acti\u00advity in the short-run equi\u00adli\u00adbrium, it may not have the same effect\u2014and may fail to incre\u00ada\u00adse the labor share\u2014in the long-run equilibrium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This paper explo\u00adres the two-way rela\u00adti\u00adonship betwe\u00aden wor\u00adkers\u2019 invest\u00adment in kno\u00adwled\u00adge capi\u00adtal, fun\u00added through inco\u00ad\u00adme-con\u00ad\u00adtin\u00ad\u00adgent loans, and func\u00adti\u00ado\u00adnal inco\u00adme dis\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adti\u00adon within a demand-led macrody\u00adna\u00admic fra\u00admework. Real wage growth is posi\u00adti\u00advely influ\u00aden\u00adced by the employ\u00adment rate (whi\u00adch equals the uti\u00adli\u00adza\u00adti\u00adon rate of kno\u00adwled\u00adge capi\u00adtal) and the growth of labor pro\u00adduc\u00adti\u00advity (whi\u00adch equals the growth of knowledge&nbsp;[\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","tags":[],"made_publication_type":[7],"class_list":["post-2855","made_publication","type-made_publication","status-publish","hentry","made_publication_type-working-papers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Workers trying to climb the income ladder: debt-financed knowledge capital accumulation and distributive conflict &#8212; Made<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/madeusp.com.br\/en\/publicacoes\/artigos\/workers-trying-to-climb-the-income-ladder-debt-financed-knowledge-capital-accumulation-and-distributive-conflict\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/madeusp.com.br\\\/en\\\/publicacoes\\\/artigos\\\/workers-trying-to-climb-the-income-ladder-debt-financed-knowledge-capital-accumulation-and-distributive-conflict\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/madeusp.com.br\\\/en\\\/publicacoes\\\/artigos\\\/workers-trying-to-climb-the-income-ladder-debt-financed-knowledge-capital-accumulation-and-distributive-conflict\\\/\",\"name\":\"Workers trying to climb the income ladder: debt-financed knowledge capital accumulation and distributive conflict &#8212; 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