This research work investigates the dynamic and long-run relationships among institutional quality, innovation diffusion and income inequality in Nigeria and South Africa using annual time series data. In order to take care of the gradual structural shifts embedded in developing and emerging economies, this study incorporates the Fourier unit root test and Fourier Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (FARDL) techniques, which give room for smooth and unknown structural breaks. The Fourier un