IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v49y2012i4p877-896.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why Have Poorer Neighbourhoods Stagnated Economically while the Richer Have Flourished? Neighbourhood Income Inequality in Canadian Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Wen-Hao Chen
  • John Myles
  • Garnett Picot

Abstract

Higher-income neighbourhoods in Canada’s eight largest cities flourished economically during the past quarter-century, while lower-income communities stagnated. This paper identifies some of the underlying processes that led to this outcome. Increasing family income inequality drove much of the rise in neighbourhood inequality. Increased spatial economic segregation, the increasing tendency of ‘like to live nearby like’, also played a role. It is shown that these changes originated in the labour market. Changes in investment, pension income and government transfers played a very minor role. Yet it was not unemployment that differentiated the richer from poorer neighbourhoods. Rather, it was the type of job found, particularly the annual earnings generated. The end result has been little improvement in economic resources in poor neighbourhoods during a period of substantial economic growth, and a rise in neighbourhood income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen-Hao Chen & John Myles & Garnett Picot, 2012. "Why Have Poorer Neighbourhoods Stagnated Economically while the Richer Have Flourished? Neighbourhood Income Inequality in Canadian Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(4), pages 877-896, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:4:p:877-896
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098011408142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098011408142
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098011408142?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Picot, Garnett & Pyper, Wendy & Myles, John, 2000. "Neighbourhood Inequality in Canadian Cities," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2000160e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    2. Garnett Picot & John Myles, 1996. "Social Transfers, Changing Family Structure and Low Income Among Children," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 22(3), pages 244-267, September.
    3. Heisz, Andrew, 2007. "Income Inequality and Redistribution in Canada: 1976 to 2004," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2007298e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    4. Richard D. Alba & John R. Logan, 1992. "Analyzing Locational Attainments," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 20(3), pages 367-397, February.
    5. Hou, Feng & Myles, John, 2005. "Neighbourhood inequality, neighbourhood affluence and population health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 1557-1569, April.
    6. Lerman, Robert I & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1985. "Income Inequality Effects by Income," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 151-156, February.
    7. Picot, Garnett, 1998. "What is Happening to Earnings, Inequality and Youth Wages in the 1990s?," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 1998116e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    8. Elizabeth A. La Jeunesse & Christopher H. Wheeler, 2007. "Neighborhood income inequality," Working Papers 2006-039, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    9. Marc Frenette & David A. Green & Kevin Milligan, 2007. "The tale of the tails: Canadian income inequality in the 1980s and 1990s," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 734-764, August.
    10. Richard V. Burkhauser & Timothy M. Smeeding & Joachim Merz, 1996. "Relative Inequality And Poverty In Germany And The United States Using Alternative Equivalence Scales," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 42(4), pages 381-400, December.
    11. Philip Oreopoulos, 2008. "Neighbourhood Effects in Canada: A Critique," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(2), pages 237-258, June.
    12. Wolfson, Michael & Murphy, Brian B, 1998. "New Views on Inequality Trends in Canada and the United States," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 1998124e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    13. Hatfield, M., 1997. "Concentrations of Poverty and Distressed Neighbourhoods in Canada," Papers w-97-1e, Gouvernement du Canada - Human Resources Development.
    14. Green, David A. & Milligan, Kevin & Frenette, Marc, 2006. "Revisiting Recent Trends in Canadian After-Tax Income Inequality Using Census Data," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2006274e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sébastien Breau & Megan Wylie & Kevin Manaugh & Samantha Carr, 2023. "Inclusive growth, public transit infrastructure investments and neighbourhood trajectories of inequality in Montreal," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(8), pages 2009-2030, November.
    2. Hu, Xiao & Liang, Che-Yuan, 2022. "Does income redistribution prevent residential segregation?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 519-542.
    3. Elliot Siemiatycki, 2013. "A Smooth Ride? From Industrial to Creative Urbanism in Oshawa, Ontario," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1766-1784, September.
    4. Modai-Snir, Tal & van Ham, Maarten, 2018. "Inequality, Reordering and Divergent Growth: Processes of Neighbourhood Change in Dutch Cities," IZA Discussion Papers 11883, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Simone Scarpa, 2015. "The impact of income inequality on economic residential segregation: The case of Malmö, 1991–2010," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(5), pages 906-922, April.
    6. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Baako, Kingsley Tetteh & Mintah, Kwabena & Zhang, Quanda, 2021. "Transport infrastructure and house prices in the long run," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1-12.
    7. Allen, Jeff & Farber, Steven, 2020. "Suburbanization of transport poverty," SocArXiv hkpfj, Center for Open Science.
    8. Masuda, Jeffrey R. & Teelucksingh, Cheryl & Zupancic, Tara & Crabtree, Alexis & Haber, Rebecca & Skinner, Emily & Poland, Blake & Frankish, Jim & Fridell, Mara, 2012. "Out of our inner city backyards: Re-scaling urban environmental health inequity assessment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(7), pages 1244-1253.
    9. Alan Walks, 2014. "From Financialization to Sociospatial Polarization of the City? Evidence from Canada," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 90(1), pages 33-66, January.
    10. Tamara Premrov & Matthias Schnetzer, 2023. "Social mix and the city: Council housing and neighbourhood income inequality in Vienna," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(4), pages 752-769, March.
    11. Chantel Ramraj & Laleh Sadeghi & Herenia P Lawrence & Laura Dempster & Carlos Quiñonez, 2013. "Is Accessing Dental Care Becoming More Difficult? Evidence from Canada's Middle-Income Population," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-6, February.
    12. Sébastien Breau & Michael Shin & Nick Burkhart, 2018. "Pulling apart: new perspectives on the spatial dimensions of neighbourhood income disparities in Canadian cities," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-25, January.
    13. Schulz, Jan & Mayerhoffer, Daniel M., 2021. "A network approach to consumption," BERG Working Paper Series 173, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    14. Nancy A. Ross & Lisa N. Oliver & Paul J. Villeneuve, 2013. "The Contribution of Neighbourhood Material and Social Deprivation to Survival: A 22-Year Follow-up of More than 500,000 Canadians," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-14, April.
    15. Minjun Zhao & Ning Liu & Jinliu Chen & Danqing Wang & Pengcheng Li & Di Yang & Pu Zhou, 2024. "Navigating Post-COVID-19 Social–Spatial Inequity: Unravelling the Nexus between Community Conditions, Social Perception, and Spatial Differentiation," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-28, April.
    16. Andrejs Skaburskis & Kristopher Nelson, 2014. "Filtering and Gentrifying in Toronto: Neighbourhood Transitions in and out from the Lowest Income Decile between 1981 and 2006," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(4), pages 885-900, April.
    17. Lazar Ilic & M Sawada, 2021. "The temporal evolution of income polarization in Canada’s largest CMAs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-27, June.
    18. Nick Vlahos, 2023. "BEYOND THE TRIAGING OF NEGLECTED THINGS: Connecting Place and Participation Across an Urban System," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 563-579, July.
    19. Cottineau-Mugadza, Clémentine, 2024. "Economic inequality and economic segregation: a systematic review of causal pathways," SocArXiv qxket, Center for Open Science.
    20. Tyler A Scott & Tima Moldogaziev & Robert A Greer, 2018. "Drink what you can pay for: Financing infrastructure in a fragmented water system," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(13), pages 2821-2837, October.
    21. Vanesa Jorda & Jose M. Alonso, 2020. "What works to mitigate and reduce relative (and absolute) inequality?: A systematic review," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-152, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marcelin Joanis & Edgard Rodriguez, 2013. "Public Redistribution and Inequality in a Period of Fiscal Consolidation: A Decomposition Analysis for Canada in the 1980s and 1990s," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 218-238, June.
    2. Picot, Garnett & Heisz, Andrew & Jackson, Andrew, 2002. "Winners and Losers in the Labour Market of the 1990s," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2002184e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    3. Heisz, Andrew, 2007. "Income Inequality and Redistribution in Canada: 1976 to 2004," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2007298e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    4. Bev Dahlby & Kevin Milligan, 2017. "From theory to practice: Canadian economists contributions to public finance," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1324-1347, December.
    5. Miles Corak, 2016. "`Inequality is the root of social evil,' or Maybe Not? Two Stories about Inequality and Public Policy," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42(4), pages 367-414, December.
    6. Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2002. "International Comparisons of Trends in Economic Well-being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 349-382, June.
    7. Markus Moos & Pablo Mendez, 2015. "Suburban ways of living and the geography of income: How homeownership, single-family dwellings and automobile use define the metropolitan social space," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(10), pages 1864-1882, August.
    8. Hou, Feng & Myles, John, 2003. "Neighbourhood Attainment and Residential Segregation Among Toronto's Visible Minorities," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2003206e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    9. Hisham S. El‐Osta, 2010. "Inequality decomposition of farm family living expenditures and the role of the life cycle," Agricultural Finance Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 70(2), pages 245-266, August.
    10. El-Osta, Hisham S. & Morehart, Mitchell J., 2009. "Welfare Decomposition in the Context of the Life Cycle of Farm Operators: What Does a National Survey Reveal?," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 38(2), pages 1-17, October.
    11. Drolet, Marie & Zhang, Xuelin & Morissette, Rene, 2002. "The Evolution of Wealth Inequality in Canada, 1984-1999," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2002187e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    12. Sébastien Breau & David L. Rigby, 2010. "International trade and wage inequality in Canada," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 55-86, January.
    13. Charles M. Beach & Ross Finnie & David Gray, 2010. "Long‐Run Inequality And Short‐Run Instability Of Men'S And Women'S Earnings In Canada," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(3), pages 572-596, September.
    14. Edward N. Wolff & Ajit Zacharias & Thomas Masterson & Selçuk Eren & Andrew Sharpe & Elspeth Hazell, 2012. "A Comparison of Inequality and Living Standards in Canada and the United States Using an Expanded Measure of Economic Well-Being," CSLS Research Reports 2012-01, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    15. Alasia, Alessandro, 2003. "Sub-Provincial Income Disparity in Canada: Evidence From 1992 to 1999," Agriculture and Rural Working Paper Series 28057, Statistics Canada.
    16. Simone Scarpa, 2015. "The impact of income inequality on economic residential segregation: The case of Malmö, 1991–2010," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(5), pages 906-922, April.
    17. Lücke, Matthias, 1999. "Sectoral value added prices, TFP growth, and the low-skilled wage in high-income countries," Kiel Working Papers 923, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    18. Myles, John, 2000. "The Maturation of Canada's Retirement Income System: Income Levels, Income Inequality and Low Income Among the Elderly," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2000147e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    19. Osberg, Lars, 2013. "Instability implications of increasing inequality: Evidence from North America," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 918-930.
    20. Caminada, Koen & Goudswaard, Kees & Wang, Chen, 2012. "Disentangling income inequality and the redistributive effect of taxes and transfers in 20 LIS countries over time," MPRA Paper 42350, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:4:p:877-896. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.