Canada and the United States

Intergenerational Mobility Between and Within Canada and the United States

Intergenerational income mobility is lower in the United States than in Canada but varies significantly within each country. My co-authors and I offer a subnational analysis that finds the national border only partially distinguishes the approximately 1,000 regions we analyze within these countries.

The Canada-US border divides central and eastern Canada from the US Great Lakes and northeastern regions. Simultaneously, some Canadian regions have more in common with the low mobility southern parts of the United States than with the rest of Canada; that these areas represent a much larger fraction of the US population also explains why mobility is lower in the United States.

Download our paper, which was published in the Journal of Labor Economics, and read the summaries listed in the tabs associated with this page.

Marie Conolly, Miles Corak, Catherine Haeck (2019). “Intergenerational Mobility Between and Within Canada and the United States.” Journal of Labor Economics. Vol. 37 No. S2, pages S595-S641.