The evolution of wealth inequality in Canada, 1984-1999
by René
Morissette, Xuelin Zhang and Marie Drolet
Business and Labour Market Analysis
Division
Analytical Studies Branch research paper series, No. 187
Using
data from the Assets and Debts Survey of 1984 and the Survey of Financial Security
of 1999, we document the evolution of wealth inequality in Canada between 1984
and 1999. Our main findings are as follows:
- wealth inequality has
increased between 1984 and 1999,
- the growth in wealth inequality has
been associated with substantial declines in real average and median wealth for
young couples with children and recent immigrants,
- real median wealth
and real average wealth rose much more among family units whose major income recipient
is a university graduate than among other family units,
- real median and
average wealth fell among family units whose major income recipient is aged 25-34
and increased among those whose major income recipient is aged 55 and over,
- the
aging of the Canadian population over the 1984-1999
period has tended to reduce
wealth inequality, - diverging changes in permanent income do not explain
a substantial portion of the growing gap between low-wealth and high-wealth family
units.
Factors that may have contributed to rising wealth inequality—which
cannot be quantified with existing data sets—include differences in the growth
of inheritances, inter vivos transfers, rates of return on savings and number
of years worked full-time. In particular, rates of return on savings may have
increased more for wealthy family units than for their poorer counterparts as
a result of the booming stock market during the 1990s.
View
the article in the Daily about this publication.
View
the full publication.
You need to use the free Adobe Reader to view PDF documents. To view (open) these files, simply click on the link. To download (save) them, right-click on the link. Note that if you are using Internet Explorer or AOL, PDF documents sometimes do not open properly. See Troubleshooting PDFs. PDF documents may not be accessible by some devices. For more information, visit the Adobe website or contact us for assistance.
