Small Differences That Matter: Labor Markets and Income Maintenance in Canada and the United States (National Bureau of Economic Research Comparative Labor Markets Series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226092836 ISBN 13: 9780226092836

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1993

Synopsis

This volume, the first in a new series by the National Bureau of Economic Research that compares labor markets in different countries, examines social and labor market policies in Canada and the United States during the 1980s. It shows that subtle differences in unemployment compensation, unionization, immigration policies, and income maintenance programs have significantly affected economic outcomes in the two countries.

For example:

-Canada's social safety net, more generous than the American one, produced markedly lower poverty rates in the 1980s.
 
-Canada saw a smaller increase in earnings inequality than the United States did, in part because of the strength of Canadian unions, which have twice the participation that U.S. unions do.

-Canada's unemployment figures were much higher than those in the United States, not because the Canadian economy failed to create jobs but because a higher percentage of nonworking time was reported as unemployment.

These disparities have become noteworthy as policy makers cite the experiences of the other country to support or oppose particular initiatives.

About this title

About the Author:

David Card is professor of economics at Princeton University. Richard B. Freeman is professor of economics at Harvard University.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0226092836
• ISBN 13: 9780226092836
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Card David, Freeman Richard B.