We analyze the evolution of poverty in Quebec and in Canada from 1996 to 2005 and the effects of major elements of the personal tax and transfer system on poverty. This analysis complements the usual estimates of poverty made by Statistics Canada, l’Institut de la Statistique du Québec and...

This article draws up a portrait of effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) on labour income in Quebec. It aims in part to provide a better understanding of the impact of tax policy on the labour market and saving behavior of agents. Using an accounting micro-simulation model that incorporates the...

What is freedom? What is equality? In which way can greater equality increase freedom? Such are the main questions which this paper tries to answer. The problem of the choice between freedom and equality indeed raises the problem of the definition of these two objects. Once this definition is...

The usefulness of Lorenz curves for analysing the distribution of income is well understood since the influential article of Atkinson (1970). We show in this paper how combining Lorenz and concentration curves for incomes, taxes and transfers allows one to summarise easily and intuitively the...

We simulate the redistributive impact of three scenarios of a Basic Income (BI) in the province of Québec. Simulations are performed by maintaining a balanced budget for the combined provincial and federal governments. The first scenario B supposes that a first set of social and fiscal...