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The incubated revolution: Education, cohort effects, and the linguistic wage gap in Quebec during the 20th century

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  • Gagnon, Julien
  • Geloso, Vincent
  • Isabelle, Maripier

Abstract

Wage gaps between various groups within economies are common and policy solutions to attenuate them can have different distributional effects within groups. We propose a model to think about how, when labour is relatively immobile but capital isn’t, an economy with initial wage gaps between different groups can transition toward greater equality. We apply this framework to the French-English linguistic wage gap in Quebec (Canada) between 1970 and 2000 by looking at birth cohorts from 1910 to 1970. Our findings are consistent with our model: the closing of the wage gap was caused by a change, during the 1940s in compulsory schooling which shocked the initial equilibrium and led to cohort-specific dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Gagnon, Julien & Geloso, Vincent & Isabelle, Maripier, 2023. "The incubated revolution: Education, cohort effects, and the linguistic wage gap in Quebec during the 20th century," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 327-349.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:207:y:2023:i:c:p:327-349
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.12.017
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