Poverty Impacts of Trade, Macroeconomic and Social Policy -- Canada and the United States in the 1990s.

This paper examines the determinants of poverty intensity in US states and Canadian provinces in 1994 and 1997. Although most Canadian provinces had lower poverty than US states in 1994, by 1997 Canadian distinctiveness had greatly diminished. Was this because of trade liberalization, the substantial differences in monetary policy which also occurred or the major reforms to unemployment insurance and welfare in Canada and the US? The paper examines the relative importance for poverty intensity of trade exposure, unemployment, social assistance generosity and unemployment insurance benefits.