IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/wpaper/126165.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The geography of economic mobility in 19th century Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Antonie, Luiza
  • Inwood, Kris
  • Minns, Chris
  • Summerfield, Fraser

Abstract

This paper uses linked Census records from 1871 to 1901 to compute intergenerational mobility for Canadian regions and census districts. The results reveal sharp differences in mobility over space: Ontario featured high relative and absolute mobility, Quebec low relative and absolute mobility, and the Maritimes low absolute mobility. Local differences in human capital endowments and labour market inequality are correlated with district mobility patterns but do not account for regional differences, where migration and structural change toward industry and services appear important. Comparing spatial patterns of Canadian mobility in the 19th century to today shows substantial changes for Quebec districts.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonie, Luiza & Inwood, Kris & Minns, Chris & Summerfield, Fraser, 2024. "The geography of economic mobility in 19th century Canada," Economic History Working Papers 126165, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:126165
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/126165/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Magne Mogstad & Joseph P Romano & Azeem M Shaikh & Daniel Wilhelm, 2024. "Inference for Ranks with Applications to Mobility across Neighbourhoods and Academic Achievement across Countries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(1), pages 476-518.
    2. Pérez, Santiago, 2019. "Intergenerational Occupational Mobility across Three Continents," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 383-416, June.
    3. Miles Corak & Andrew Heisz, 1999. "The Intergenerational Earnings and Income Mobility of Canadian Men: Evidence from Longitudinal Income Tax Data," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(3), pages 504-533.
    4. Joan R. Rosés & Nikolaus Wolf, 2018. "Regional Economic Development in Europe, 1900-2010: A Description of the Patterns," CESifo Working Paper Series 6952, CESifo.
    5. Dylan Shane Connor & Michael Storper, 2020. "The changing geography of social mobility in the United States," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(48), pages 30309-30317, December.
    6. Inwood, Kris & Minns, Chris & Summerfield, Fraser, 2019. "Occupational income scores and immigrant assimilation. Evidence from the Canadian census," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 114-122.
    7. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. James J. Feigenbaum, 2018. "Multiple Measures of Historical Intergenerational Mobility: Iowa 1915 to 1940," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 446-481, July.
    9. Solon, Gary, 1992. "Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 393-408, June.
    10. Martha J. Bailey & Connor Cole & Morgan Henderson & Catherine Massey, 2020. "How Well Do Automated Linking Methods Perform? Lessons from US Historical Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(4), pages 997-1044, December.
    11. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1979. "An Equilibrium Theory of the Distribution of Income and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1153-1189, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Levine, David I. & Jellema, Jon R., 2005. "Growth, Industrialization, and the Intergenerational Correlation of Advantage," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt2q74s1tg, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    2. Anja Gaentzsch & Gabriela Zapata Román, 2018. "More educated, less mobile? Diverging trends in income and educational mobility in Chile and Peru," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 312018, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Bernt Bratsberg & Knut Røed & Oddbjørn Raaum & Robin Naylor & Markus Ja¨ntti & Tor Eriksson & Eva O¨sterbacka, 2007. "Nonlinearities in Intergenerational Earnings Mobility: Consequences for Cross-Country Comparisons," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(519), pages 72-92, March.
    4. Muñoz, Ercio, 2021. "The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean," SocArXiv mc78h, Center for Open Science.
    5. Tharcisio Leone, 2019. "The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence of Educational Persistence and the “Great Gatsby Curve" in Brazil," Documentos de Trabajo 17526, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA).
    6. Corak, Miles & Piraino, Patrizio, 2010. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility and the Inheritance of Employers," IZA Discussion Papers 4876, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Markus Jäntti & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2013. "Income Mobility," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 607, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    8. Robert Lucas & Sari Kerr, 2013. "Intergenerational income immobility in Finland: contrasting roles for parental earnings and family income," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(3), pages 1057-1094, July.
    9. Liu, Qijun & Song, Lijie, 2022. "Do intergovernmental transfers boost intergenerational income mobility? Evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 293-309.
    10. Celhay, Pablo & Gallegos, Sebastian, 2024. "Schooling Mobility across Three Generations in Six Latin American Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 17072, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Wen-Hao Chen & Miles Corak, 2009. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility among the Children of Canadian Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 377-397, May.
    12. Cheti Nicoletti & Marco Francesconi, 2006. "Intergenerational mobility and sample selection in short panels," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(8), pages 1265-1293.
    13. Pekkarinen, Tuomas & Uusitalo, Roope & Pekkala Kerr, Sari, 2006. "Education Policy and Intergenerational Income Mobility: Evidence from the Finnish Comprehensive School Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 2204, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Sayema H. Bidisha, 2009. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility of Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in the UK," Discussion Papers 09/10, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    15. Lochner, Lance & Park, Youngmin, 2024. "Earnings dynamics and intergenerational transmission of skill," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 243(1).
    16. Zachary Ward, 2023. "Intergenerational Mobility in American History: Accounting for Race and Measurement Error," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3213-3248, December.
    17. Gordon Anderson & Teng Leo & Robert Muelhaupt, 2014. "Measuring Advances in Equality of Opportunity: The Changing Gender Gap in Educational Attainment in Canada in the Last Half Century," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 73-99, October.
    18. Nicoletti, Cheti, 2008. "Multiple sample selection in the estimation of intergenerational occupational mobility," ISER Working Paper Series 2008-20, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    19. Ermisch, John & Francesconi, Marco, 2002. "Intergenerational Social Mobility and Assortative Mating in Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 465, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Fletcher, Jason & Jajtner, Katie M., 2023. "Multidimensional intergenerational mobility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ehl:wpaper:126165. 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: LSERO Manager on behalf of EH Dept. (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/chlseuk.html .

    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.