According to Canadian taxfiler data, over the last thirty years there has been a surge in the income shares of the top 1%, top 0.1% and top 0.01% of income recipients, even with longitudinal smoothing by individual using three- or five-year moving averages. Top shares fell in 2008 and 2009, but...

There are two competing views on how immigration would affect local labor markets. When immigrants offer skills similar to those of native-born workers, they may compete directly with them, and this competition may lead to lower economic returns for native-born workers. This view can be called...

According to the standard economic model of crime, which assumes that individuals are rational decisions makers who consider the opportunity cost of crime and take into account the possibility of getting caught and punished; the concern that immigration can cause increases in crime is warranted,...

Selon le modèle économique normal de la criminalité, qui suppose que les gens prennent des décisions de façon rationnelle, en considérant le coût d’opportunité du crime et en tenant compte de la possibilité d’être pris et puni, on se pose la question de savoir si l’immigration...

Data from the 2002 and 1994 General Social Survey are used to analyze the determinants of retiring due to mandatory retirement and the expected age of retirement in Canada. Changes between 1994 and 2002 are decomposed into a component attributable to shifts in the composition of respondents and...

What are idiosyncratic shocks and how do people respond to them? This paper starts from the observation that idiosyncratic shocks are experienced at the individual level, but responses to shocks can encompass the whole household. Understanding and accurately modeling these responses is essential...

Higher income neighbourhoods in Canada’s eight largest cities flourished economically during the past quarter century, while lower income communities stagnated. This paper identifies some of the underlying processes that led to this outcome. Increasing family income inequality drove much...

Recent trends in inequality and poverty across Western Canada, a region known for its energy resources, seem to correspond to movements in energy prices, with much of the rise in inequality and decline in poverty taking place during the energy boom from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. These...

In the energy-rich region of Western Canada, inequality rose over the past two decades, while poverty declined, begging the question of whether the recent energy boom was a contributing factor. This study uses measures of inequality and poverty across local labor markets that vary in energy...

Les récentes tendances de l’inégalité et de la pauvreté dans l’Ouest du Canada, région connue pour ses ressources énergétiques, semblent suivre les variations des prix de l’énergie, le plus gros de la hausse de l’inégalité et de la pauvreté s’étant produit lors du boom de...