IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mcm/deptwp/2019-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Age-Income Dynamics Over The Life Course: Cohort Transition Patterns In Relative Income Based On Canadian Tax Returns

Author

Listed:
  • Frank T Denton
  • Byron G Spencer
  • Terry A Yip

Abstract

This paper is concerned with patterns of cohort aging and income progression. We take a new approach to the characterization of relative income, explore the dynamics of age/income progression through the use of state transition matrices, consider alternative cohort definitions, and introduce an artificial cross-section cohort based on the transition matrices. Our applications make use of individual income records from the Statistics Canada Longitudinal Administrative Database. Relative income is defined by how an individual of a given age is positioned in the overall distribution of income in a given year. We derive the proportionate distribution of individuals in each decile group at each representative age, starting at 24, and the transition matrices then show the movements from the distribution at one age to the distribution five years later.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank T Denton & Byron G Spencer & Terry A Yip, 2019. "Age-Income Dynamics Over The Life Course: Cohort Transition Patterns In Relative Income Based On Canadian Tax Returns," Department of Economics Working Papers 2019-02, McMaster University.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2019-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/econ/rsrch/papers/archive/2019-02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ravi Kanbur & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2016. "Dynastic inequality, mobility and equality of opportunity," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(4), pages 419-434, December.
    2. Katharina Jenderny, 2016. "Mobility of Top Incomes in Germany," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(2), pages 245-265, June.
    3. Michael R. Veall, 2012. "Top income shares in Canada: recent trends and policy implications," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 1247-1272, November.
    4. Charles M. Beach & Ross Finnie, 2004. "A longitudinal analysis of earnings change in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 219-240, February.
    5. Martin Browning & Thomas F. Crossley, 2001. "The Life-Cycle Model of Consumption and Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 3-22, Summer.
    6. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Maggie R Jones & Sonya R Porter, 2020. "Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: an Intergenerational Perspective [“Intergenerational Mobility of Immigrants in the US Over Two Centuries,”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 711-783.
    7. Michael Baker & Gary Solon, 2003. "Earnings Dynamics and Inequality among Canadian Men, 1976-1992: Evidence from Longitudinal Income Tax Records," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 267-288, April.
    8. Miles Corak, 2013. "Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 79-102, Summer.
    9. Reto Foellmi & Isabel Z. Martínez, 2017. "Volatile Top Income Shares in Switzerland? Reassessing the Evolution between 1981 and 2010," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(5), pages 793-809, December.
    10. Finnie, Ross & Beach, Charles M., 2004. "A Longitudinal Analysis of Earnings Change in Canada," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2004227e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    11. James Foster & Michael Wolfson, 2010. "Polarization and the decline of the middle class: Canada and the U.S," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(2), pages 247-273, June.
    12. Brian Murphy & Mike Veall & Michael Wolfson, 2015. "Top-End Progressivity and Federal Tax Preferences in Canada: Estimates from Personal Income Tax Data," Canadian Tax Journal, Canadian Tax Foundation, vol. 63(3), pages 661-688.
    13. David R. Agrawal & Dirk Foremny, 2019. "Relocation of the Rich: Migration in Response to Top Tax Rate Changes from Spanish Reforms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 214-232, May.
    14. Auten, Gerald & Gee, Geoffrey, 2009. "Income Mobility in the United States: New Evidence From Income Tax Data," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(2), pages 301-328, June.
    15. Fatih Guvenen & Serdar Ozkan & Jae Song, 2014. "The Nature of Countercyclical Income Risk," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(3), pages 621-660.
    16. Anthony Atkinson & Thomas Piketty, 2007. "Top incomes over the twentieth century: A contrast between continental european and english-speaking countries," Post-Print halshs-00754859, HAL.
    17. Finnie, Ross, 2006. "International Mobility: Patterns of Exit and Return of Canadians, 1982 to 2003," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2006288e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    18. Valentino Dardanoni & Mario Fiorini & Antonio Forcina, 2012. "Stochastic monotonicity in intergenerational mobility tables," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 85-107, January.
    19. Sam Schulhofer‐Wohl, 2018. "The age‐time‐cohort problem and the identification of structural parameters in life‐cycle models," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(2), pages 643-658, July.
    20. Anthony B Atkinson & François Bourguignon, 2014. "Handbook of Income Distribution," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-02923231, HAL.
    21. Sillamaa, Mary-Anne & Veall, Michael R., 2001. "The effect of marginal tax rates on taxable income: a panel study of the 1988 tax flattening in Canada," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 341-356, June.
    22. Charles Beach & Ross Finnie, 2004. "A longitudinal analysis of earnings change in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 37(1), pages 219-240, February.
    23. Charles M. Beach & Ross Finnie & David Gray, 2003. "Earnings Variability and Earnings Instability of Women and Men in Canada: How Do the 1990s Compare to the 1980s?," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 29(s1), pages 41-64, January.
    24. Kevin Milligan & Tammy Schirle, 2021. "The evolution of longevity: Evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 164-192, February.
    25. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Nathaniel Hendren & Maggie R. Jones & Sonya R. Porter, 2018. "The Opportunity Atlas: Mapping the Childhood Roots of Social Mobility," Working Papers 18-42, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    26. Shorrocks, A F, 1978. "The Measurement of Mobility," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(5), pages 1013-1024, September.
    27. Corak, Miles & Lindquist, Matthew J. & Mazumder, Bhashkar, 2014. "A comparison of upward and downward intergenerational mobility in Canada, Sweden and the United States," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 185-200.
    28. Fatih Guvenen & Fatih Karahan & Serdar Ozkan & Jae Song, 2017. "Heterogeneous Scarring Effects of Full-Year Nonemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 369-373, May.
    29. Emmanuel Saez & Michael R. Veall, 2005. "The Evolution of High Incomes in Northern America: Lessons from Canadian Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 831-849, June.
    30. Shorrocks, Anthony, 1978. "Income inequality and income mobility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 376-393, December.
    31. Michael Wolfson & Mike Veall & Neil Brooks & Brian Murphy, 2016. "Piercing the Veil: Private Corporations and the Income of the Affluent," Canadian Tax Journal, Canadian Tax Foundation, vol. 64(1), pages 1-30.
    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. Markus Jäntti & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2013. "Income Mobility," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 607, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    2. Audra Bowlus & Émilien Gouin‐Bonenfant & Huju Liu & Lance Lochner & Youngmin Park, 2022. "Four decades of Canadian earnings inequality and dynamics across workers and firms," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1447-1491, November.
    3. Charles M. Beach, 2016. "Changing income inequality: A distributional paradigm for Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(4), pages 1229-1292, November.
    4. Gordon Anderson, 2018. "Measuring Aspects of Mobility, Polarization and Convergence in the Absence of Cardinality: Indices Based Upon Transitional Typology," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 887-907, October.
    5. Nicolas Hérault & Dean Hyslop & Stephen P. Jenkins & Roger Wilkins, 2024. "Rising top‐income persistence in Australia: Evidence from income tax data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(1), pages 154-186, March.
    6. Muthitacharoen, Athiphat & Burong, Trongwut, 2023. "Climbing the economic ladder: Earnings inequality and intragenerational mobility among Thai formal workers," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Liliana Cano, 2015. "Income mobility in Ecuador: New evidence from individual income tax returns," WIDER Working Paper Series 040, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Isabel Z. Martínez, 2021. "Evidence from Unique Swiss Tax Data on the Composition and Joint Distribution of Income and Wealth," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 105-142, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Salvatore Morelli & Timothy Smeeding & Jeffrey Thompson, 2014. "Post-1970 Trends in Within-Country Inequality and Poverty: Rich and Middle Income Countries," CSEF Working Papers 356, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    11. Katharina Jenderny, 2016. "Mobility of Top Incomes in Germany," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(2), pages 245-265, June.
    12. Gabriel Burdín & Mauricio de Rosa & Andrea Vigorito & Joan Vilá, 2019. "Was falling inequality in all Latin American countries a data-driven illusion? Income distribution and mobility patterns in Uruguay 2009-2016," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 19-30, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    13. Liliana Cano, 2015. "Income Mobility in Ecuador: New Evidence from Individual Income Tax Returns," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-040, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Ilpo Suoniemi, 2017. "Intergenerational mobility and equal opportunity, evidence from Finland," Working Papers 312, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    15. Abbott, Michael & Beach, Charles M., 2009. "Immigrant Earnings Distributions and Earnings Mobility in Canada: Evidence for the 1982 Landing Cohort from IMDB Micro Data," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2009-22, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 13 Mar 2009.
    16. Gray, David & Finnie, Ross & Beach, Charles M., 2006. "The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions on the Instability and Long-Run Inequality of Workers' Earnings in Canada," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2006268e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    17. Zeng, Ting & Zhu, Shenghao, 2022. "The mobility of top earnings, income, and wealth in China: Facts from the 2011–2017 China household finance survey," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Atanu Ghoshray & Issam Malki & Javier Ordóñez, 2022. "On the long-run dynamics of income and wealth inequality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 375-408, February.
    19. Yoram Amiel & Michele Bernasconi & Frank Cowell & Valentino Dardanoni, 2015. "Do we value mobility?," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 44(2), pages 231-255, February.
    20. David A. Green & James Townsend, 2010. "Understanding the wage patterns of Canadian less skilled workers: the role of implicit contracts," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 373-403, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    age-income dynamics; cohort; relative income; state transition matrices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

    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:mcm:deptwp:2019-02. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/demcmca.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.