Economic Freedom Improves Income Mobility: Evidence from Canadian Provinces, 1982–2018

22 Pages Posted: 21 Jul 2021 Last revised: 16 Sep 2021

See all articles by Vincent Geloso

Vincent Geloso

George Mason University - Department of Economics

James Dean

West Virginia University - Department of Economics

Date Written: June 28, 2021

Abstract

Economic freedom is robustly associated with income growth, but does this association extend to the poorest in a society? In this paper, we employ Canada’s longitudinal cohorts of income mobility between 1982 and 2018 to answer this question. We find that economic freedom, as measured by the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) index, is positively associated with multiple measures of income mobility for people in the lowest income deciles, including a) absolute income gain; b) the percentage of people with rising income; and c) average decile mobility. For the overall population, economic freedom has weaker effects.

Keywords: Economic Freedom, Income Mobility, Inequality,

JEL Classification: I30, O10, P16

Suggested Citation

Geloso, Vincent and Dean, James, Economic Freedom Improves Income Mobility: Evidence from Canadian Provinces, 1982–2018 (June 28, 2021). GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 21-20, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3875551 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3875551

Vincent Geloso (Contact Author)

George Mason University - Department of Economics ( email )

4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
United States

James Dean

West Virginia University - Department of Economics ( email )

Morgantown, WV 26506
United States

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