Rising income inequality has been at the forefront of public debate in Canada in recent years, yet there is still much to be learned about the economic forces driving the distribution of earnings and income in this country and how they might evolve in coming years.

The Institute for Research on Public Policy, in collaboration with the Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network, gathered some of the country’s leading experts to provide new evidence on the causes and effects of rising income inequality in Canada and to consider the role of policy. Their research and analysis constitutes a comprehensive review of inequality trends in recent decades, including changing earnings and income dynamics among middle-class and top earners, wage and job polarization across provinces, and persistent poverty among vulnerable groups. Our contributors also examined the changing role of education and unionization in explaining these trends, as well as the complex interplay of redistributive policies and politics, in order to propose new directions for policy.

This work is now published in the volume Income Inequality: The Canadian Story, edited by David A. Green, W. Craig Riddell and France St-Hilaire, the fifth in The Art of the State series. It was awarded the Doug Purvis Memorial Prize for 2017, presented annually to the authors of a highly significant written contribution to Canadian economic policy. A new book on Universal Basic Income is also in the works and slated for release in 2023.

To purchase a copy, please visit the IRPP store. Several chapters are available online.

This research program was directed by France St-Hilaire.