Category Inequality
Economic Inequality, Saving and Economic Growth
“It is generally recognized that more saving takes place in communities in which the distribution of wealth is uneven than in those in which it approaches more closely to modern conceptions of what is just.” T.S. Ashton (1948) The Industrial Revolution 1760-1830, p. 7. I came across this quote while reading Ashton’s account of the […]
Two compulsory lotteries
Never reason from an increase in inequality. What the effects of increased inequality are, and whether it's good or bad, will depend on what caused that increased inequality. Inequality is an endogenous variable. So let's think of a government policy that would cause increased inequality, and talk about that. Suppose the government gave every Canadian […]
Federal Transfers, Equalization and Ontario’s Cries for Reform
Transfers and equalization often flare up in Canadian policy discussions with the cry that there is a need for reform. A recent Cohn column in the Toronto Star on Ontario’s economic stall concluded “Outdated equalization and transfer payments cry out for reform, but will likely continue to bleed Ontario’s taxpayers of about $12 billion a […]
What will really old, stupid, and uneducated people do?
Typepad puts almost all my comments in spam. Me! Don't they know who I am? I can fish them out of the spam filter when it's my own post, but it means I have given up commenting on other people's posts, both here and on other blogs, if they use Typepad. Because my comments go […]
The hollowing-out of the middle class: It’s a guy thing
I've been having a hard time getting my head around the 'hollowing out of the middle class' theme that were seeing so much of. What, exactly, does that mean? And is it actually happening? In a Maclean's post a couple of months ago, I tried looking at it in terms of the proportion of the […]
Contrasting trends in Canadian and US median incomes
This is a graph of real Canadian median family incomes: What do you think the relevant trend is for current policy?
Revolution, Income and Regional Decline: The American Revolution and the First American Great Depression
Using the framework of neoclassical institutional economics, new institutions are innovated if the perceived expected net gains are positive. That is, the benefits from the change should exceed the implementation costs plus the net benefits of the existing institutional arrangement. A primary ingredient of those gains must invariably translate into higher per capita income. As […]
What is the link between unionisation and inequality?
I've looked at graphs like this many times over the past few years: One of the things that I notice in that chart is that countries that are reputed to have strong union movements have market inequality outcomes that don't appear to be all that much better than those with weaker union movements. So this […]
Wealth, Religion and Inequality
In nineteenth century Canada, religion was a very important institutional and social force and via its social networks affected employment opportunities and ultimately income. Via both direct and indirect effects, religious affiliation invariably affected asset accumulation and wealth and by extension must also have affected wealth inequality. Indeed, when it comes to examining the wealth […]
Does the End of Growth Mean the Rise of Inequality?
Classical economics argued that eventually a stationary state or the end of economic growth was going to be reached but they did not forsee the technological change of 19th century industrialization. The result was income and wealth growing by leaps and bounds. However, yet another paper – this time by Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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