First I will state the my overarching question. Has the gap between
the rich and poor in canada increased or decreased over the last 50
years? By how much has this changed? What I want you to do is find
published scientific papers that answer this question. I imagine that
someone has probably studied this and has published  something in some
journal somewhere. Stats Canada may be a place to start looking.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 11 May 2005 04:29 PDT

Jim,

Interesting question, but after looking around a bit, I do not see any
available information that covers a period of 50 years.

The best I can come up with thus far is an article (from Stats
Canada...you were right!) that reviews income inequality data back to
the 1970s:

=====
http://www.statcan.ca/english/ads/11-010-XPB/pdf/aug00.pdf

INCOME INEQUALITY IN NORTH AMERICA: DOES THE 49th PARALLEL STILL MATTER?

...earnings inequality (the gap between rich and poor) and earnings
polarization (a ?hollowing out? of the middle) increased in both
Canada and the US over the 1974 to 1985 period. Moreover, these
changes were greater in Canada than in the US. However, in the 1985 to
1997 period, these trends were completely reversed in Canada, where
earnings inequality and polarization both declined while in the US,
inequality continued to increase, but polarization declined.
=====

Bottom line is that there wasn't much overall change in income
inequality in Canada for the 23-year period of the study.

Does that sort of thing meet your needs?  If not, what kind of
additional information would you like as a complete answer to your
question?

pafalafa-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 13 May 2005 19:32 PDT

Jim,

There are two very good sources of information that have been posted
here thus far.  One I provided -- a link to the Stats Canada report on
income inequality trends in both Canada and the US.

The other is a database noted in the comments section, below, which
provides a detailed history of the Gini coefficient for Canada -- the
most widely used measure of income inequality.

Please let me know if this information meets your needs.  And if it
doesn't, let me know what you would like in addition to make for a
compelte answer to your question.

Thanks so much,

pafalafa-ga

It took me a while, but I found an excel spreadsheet with Canada's
GINI index from the past 50 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient

"The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality developed by the
Italian statistician Corrado Gini and published in his 1912 paper
"Variabilità e mutabilità". It is usually used to measure income
inequality, but can be used to measure any form of uneven
distribution. The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, where
0 corresponds with perfect equality (where everyone has the same
income) and 1 corresponds with perfect inequality (where one person
has all the income, and everyone else has zero income). The Gini index
is the Gini coefficient expressed in percentage form, and is equal to
the Gini coefficient multiplied by 100."

A UN sponsored study (WIDER) on income equality tracks the Gini
indices of every country.

http://www.wider.unu.edu/wiid/wiid.htm

"The WIDER World Income Inequality Database (WIID) collects and stores
information on income inequality for developed, developing, and
transition countries."


Here are the Gini figures:

Canada	1951	39.00
Canada	1951	32.56
Canada	1957	32.04
Canada	1961	32.15
Canada	1961	30.80
Canada	1965	36.00
Canada	1965	33.33
Canada	1965	31.61
Canada	1967	31.41
Canada	1969	34.40
Canada	1969	35.40
Canada	1969	32.30
Canada	1971	32.24
Canada	1973	31.60
Canada	1974	31.03
Canada	1975	31.62
Canada	1977	31.97
Canada	1979	30.20
Canada	1979	31.00
Canada	1981	30.60
Canada	1981	31.80
Canada	1981	32.29
Canada	1981	33.10
Canada	1981	34.80
Canada	1981	37.00
Canada	1982	29.40
Canada	1983	32.80
Canada	1984	32.97
Canada	1985	32.81
Canada	1986	32.50
Canada	1987	32.28
Canada	1987	31.58
Canada	1987	35.30
Canada	1988	31.91
Canada	1989	27.41
Canada	1990	27.56
Canada	1991	27.65
Canada	1991	30.98
Canada	1991	41.50
Canada	1991	28.60
Canada	1994	31.32
Canada	1997	31.71
Canada	1998	32.91
Canada	2000	32.45

wminami-ga,

Nice find.  Thanks for letting us know about it.

paf