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Demographic change and regional convergence in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Vincent Geloso

    (London School of Economics)

  • Vadim Kufenko

    (University of Hohenheim)

  • Klaus Prettner

    (University of Hohenheim)

Abstract

We examine the role of demographic change for regional convergence in living standards in Canada. Due to economies of scale within a family, decreasing household size has an impact on convergence in living standards, while per capita income convergence remains unaffected. We find that, by relying on per capita income, the dispersion of living standards between Canadian regions is overestimated prior to the 1990s and underestimated thereafter. As a consequence, relying on income per capita results in overestimating the speed of convergence in living standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent Geloso & Vadim Kufenko & Klaus Prettner, 2016. "Demographic change and regional convergence in Canada," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(4), pages 1904-1910.
  • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-16-00556
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    Cited by:

    1. Geloso, Vincent & Kufenko, Vadim & Arsenault-Morin, Alex P., 2023. "The lesser shades of labor coercion: The impact of seigneurial tenure in nineteenth-century Quebec," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    2. Jason Dean & Vincent Geloso, 2022. "The linguistic wage gap in Quebec, 1901 to 1951," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 16(3), pages 615-637, September.
    3. Vadim Kufenko & Vincent Geloso & Klaus Prettner, 2018. "Does size matter? Implications of household size for economic growth and convergence," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(4), pages 437-443, September.
    4. Kufenko, Vadim & Prettner, Klaus & Geloso, Vincent, 2020. "Divergence, convergence, and the history-augmented Solow model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 62-76.
    5. Vincent Geloso & Chandler S. Reilly, 2022. "Did the ‘Quiet Revolution’ Really Change Anything?," CIRANO Working Papers 2022s-30, CIRANO.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regional convergence; living standards; demographic change; household size; Canadian Economic History;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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