Category: inequality

Social mobility and generational differences in income status in my family history

~ MilesCorak ~ 3 Comments

The February 9th, 2013 issue of the The Economist magazine featured an article on social mobility called “Nomencracy“, which discussed research on the lack of social mobility over very long periods of time in some countries. This engendered a good deal of discussion including an exchange of views I had with other academics on The Economist’s Free Exchange Blog, which is introduced here, and begins here.

But frankly the best correspondence I received on this was from a UK-based reader whose family origins are from Leicestershire, and who was kind enough to share his family history with me. His experiences vividly illustrate the challenges of upward mobility.  I am pleased to reproduce his letter to me with his kind permission.

His great-great-great-great-grandfather was a framework knitter.

frameknitters
Source: Wigston Framework Knitters Museum, http://www.le.ac.uk/emoha/community/resources/hosiery/museum.html

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Understanding inequality and why it is important

~ MilesCorak ~ 10 Comments

My presentation to the All Party Anti-Poverty Caucus of the Canadian House of Commons addressed three questions: (1) has inequality increased in Canada; (2) what explains the changes; and (3) why is it important for public policy?

I pointed out to the members of the Caucus that:

  1. Inequality has been rising in Canada since the early 1980s, driven by stagnant and declining incomes in the middle and lower half during the 1980s and 1990s, and rising top shares throughout the last 30 years.
  2. The tax-transfer system plays an important role in reducing inequality, but has not kept pace after about the mid 1990s.
  3. Rising inequality is a global phenomenon. The change in Canada has been above average when compared to other rich countries, and particularly notable for the increase in top shares.

I also suggested that while we might be interested in these changes because of a sense of fairness or because of concerns over economic efficiency, we should also be interested because inequality shapes opportunity, and that this may be a reason why all parliamentarians—regardless of their political allegiances—should treat it as an important issue for public policy.

You can download the English version here: Understanding_inequality_and_why_it_is_important_a_presentation_to_the_All_Party_Caucus

And the French version here: Understanding_inequality_and_why_it_is_important_a_presentation_to_the_All_Party_Caucus_en_francais

Why the rich don’t want to talk about inequality, and why the 99% do

~ MilesCorak ~ 11 Comments

Everything you need to know about why the rich don’t want to talk about inequality, and why the 99% do, is right here in this chart.

Average incomes and tax rates relative to 1982

The average income of those in the top 1% in Canada has about doubled since 1982, and for the top 0.1% it has increased by about two and a half to three-fold. But over this period the fraction of their income paid in taxes, their average tax rate, has remained about the same, and even a little lower.

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The success of women in politics signals that gender discrimination is still a problem

~ MilesCorak ~ 8 Comments

Women now rule over almost 9 out of every ten Canadians!

Well, at least in politics. Over the weekend Ms. Wynne won the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party and became premier of the province. Six of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories, representing about 88% of the population and including five provinces that collectively form a significant part of the national economy, now have women as their premiers.

Does this firm foothold on Canada’s political landscape mean that the women’s movement has come of age, and that the idea of gender discrimination in the workplace can be put aside? Ironically, it probably means just the opposite. Having politics transformed by women certainly illustrates that some of feminism’s rhetoric is tired and old. The broader lesson isn’t that women get paid less than men, after all Ontario’s new premier will have a salary that is the same as her predecessor. And frankly, overt wage discrimination isn’t the issue in the broader private sector either.

Rather it all has to do with having what it takes to qualify for the job. If women are increasing succeeding in the public sector, we might reasonably take that to be a signal that the most talented women in our society are bumping up against glass ceilings in the private sector.

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Has income inequality really been unchanged in Canada? : a reader’s guide to the recent TD report

~ MilesCorak ~ 9 Comments

To some there would appear to be a debate over whether inequality has increased in Canada. My view is that it has in fact increased, but at the same time its nature has changed.

However, a recent report released by the economic analysis branch of the TD Bank has been interpreted by a columnist at one important national news paper to suggest that inequality has not been changing. Some readers of my December 16th post , which attempted to clarify this perspective, have asked for my own interpretation of the TD report. This is what I offer here.

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Three rules for good pundit behaviour, or if you like: how to obstruct the debate on inequality in three easy steps

~ MilesCorak ~ 12 Comments

Inequality is increasing in Canada. Or is it?

A short report on the topic released by a major Canadian bank includes the bold heading “Income inequality has been unchanged in Canada — say what?”. This apparently contrarian finding has been seized upon by at least one influential pundit in a way that only serves to obstruct constructive public policy discussion.

A debate is in order, not over whether inequality has increased—because it has—but why this is important, and what could, or for that matter should, be done about it.

But this sort of discussion requires the best of our public commentators, and in this post I offer three rules for good pundit behaviour. Economic statistics can be confusing and they can be used in confusing ways, purposely or not, and so these rules might also be a set of general guideposts for the average reader to help separate fact from fiction, since after all we can’t expect pundits to always follow them.

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