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Did the ‘Quiet Revolution’ Really Change Anything?

Author

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  • Vincent Geloso
  • Chandler S. Reilly

Abstract

The year 1960 is often presented as a break year in the economic history of Quebec and Canada. It is used to mark the beginning of the “Quiet Revolution” during which Canada’s French-speaking province of Quebec under rapid socio-economic change in the form of rapid economic convergence with the rest of Canada and the emergence of a more expansive state. Using synthetic control methods, we analyze whether 1960 is associated with a departure from previous developments. With regards to GDP per capita, GDP per worker, household-size adjusted income, life expectancy at birth, and enrollment rates in primary and secondary schools, we find that 1960 was not an important date. For most of these measures, the counterfactual scenario is slightly better than the actual data but not by significant margins. Only with respect to the size of government do we find sign of a break. L'année 1960 est présentée comme une année charnière dans l'histoire économique du Québec. Cette année marque le début de la révolution tranquille et du rattrapage économique du Québec suite à la création d'un État plus interventionniste. En faisant usage de la méthode des contrôles synthétiques, nous évaluons si cette année marque véritablement un point de départ. Nous trouvons que le rattrapage économique et scolaire du Québec n'a pas accéléré en 1960. Nous trouvons un effet positif mais modeste au titre de l'espérance de vie à la naissance. Nous trouvons aussi un effet positif important au titre de la taille de l'État.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent Geloso & Chandler S. Reilly, 2022. "Did the ‘Quiet Revolution’ Really Change Anything?," CIRANO Working Papers 2022s-30, CIRANO.
    • Handle: RePEc:cir:cirwor:2022s-30
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    File URL: https://cirano.qc.ca/files/publications/2022s-30.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic growth; human capital; health outcomes; economic history; Quebec; Quiet Revolution; Croissance économique; capital humain; santé; histoire économique; Québec; Révolution tranquille;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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