Showing papers in "Canadian Public Policy-analyse De Politiques in 1995"

Salary discrimination in the National Hockey League: the effects of team location.

Abstract: Contrairement aux r6sultats d'6tudes pr6c6dentes, ce texte montre que les joueurs canadiensfrangais qui jouent dans la LNH sont victimes d'une discrimination salariale significative. Cette discrimination, cependant, ne touche pas l'ensemble de la ligue. Il s'agit plut6t d'un ph6nomene isol6 affectant les canadiens-frangais jouant pour des 6quipes du Canada-anglais. L'article examine comment le fait que le ph6nombne soit isol6 remet en question certaines theories populaires expliquant pourquoi les joueurs francophones sont victimes de discrimination salariale. Il montre 6galement que les sources ultimes de la discrimination ne peuvent btre comprises qu'en 6tudiant les diff6rences fondamentales entre les 6quipes americaines et celles du Canada-anglais. Deux de ces diff6rences, liees aux tensions historiques entre canadiens-anglais et canadiens-frangais, sont examinees. L'article montre aussi qu'il y a peu d'6vidence empirique concernant l'existence d'une discrimination r6ciproque; c'est-a-dire qu'il ne semble pas y avoir de traitement discriminatoire a l'6gard des canadiens-anglais jouant pour des 6quipes du Quebec.

Wage Gap Changes among Organizations Subject to the Employment Equity Act

Abstract: Canada's "Employment Equity Act" is designed to promote the presence of designated group members (women, visible minorities, aboriginal peoples and disabled persons) in the workplace. By increasing access to better paying jobs, the wage gap between designated group members and white men should be closing. This study examines wage gap reductions among organizations subject to the Act as well as the role Employment Equity Programs (EEPs) play in closing the wage gap. Using five years of data, we find that: (1) organizations subject to the Act are slowly closing the wage gap; and, (2) organizations with more formalized, comprehensive and supported EEPs are closing the wage gap more rapidly. Implications to policy-makers, practitioners and researchers are discussed.

Economic Conditions, Leader Evaluations and Election Outcomes in Canada

Abstract: Cette 6tude s'appuie sur un texte pr6cedent dans lequel il est d6montre que les resultats 6lectoraux au Canada peuvent etre expliques par un modile simple incluant une variable 6conomique (le ch6mage) et une variable politique (la province d'origine des chefs de partis). Le vote pr6dit par ce module pour l'6lection de 1993 est de 45 pour cent pour le Parti liberal, soit un 6cart de quatre points de pourcentage par rapport au vote requ par ce parti. Ce 6cart, sans 6tre important, n'est pas n6gligeable. Selon le module, les Lib6raux auraient dfi profiter de la hausse du chomage. Le fait que ce parti ait pu imposer la creation d'emplois comme l'enjeu majeur de la campagne confirme notre attente voulant que le chbmage ait grandement influenc6 le vote. Les r6sultats sont cependant plus ambigus pour ce qui est de la variable 'leader du Quebec'. Nous concluons qu'il est preferable d'inclure une mesure directe de l'6valuation des leaders et proposons a cet effet une version amelior'e de notre module.

Investigating the Financial Circumstances of Separated and Divorced Parents: Implications for Family Law Reform

Abstract: The "re-discovery" of poverty among single-parent families headed by women (the majority of whom are divorced) raises a number of questions about the way in which income inequalities and poverty are explained. This paper presents findings of an analysis of the 1990 Canadian General Social Survey, Cycle 5: Family and Friends, regarding the financial circumstances of separated and divorced parents. The implications of the findings for income support policies and practices will be examined. Following a critique of the liberal political discourse within which the "feminization of poverty" debate has taken place, it will be argued that the way in which the issue of post-divorce family poverty is conceptualized is problematic, as is existing policy practice.

Distributional Employment Effects of Ontario Minimum-Wage Proposals: A Microdata Approach

Abstract: This paper examines the distribution of potential employment losses from the proposed increase in the Ontario minimum wage to 60 percent of the average Ontario wage. The analysis is based on microdata for 1989. It is found that the majority of workers affected are women, but the average cost gap of those affected is greater for men. Those most affected are young and part-time workers, with high-school education or less, and in the Retail, Accommodation and Food industries. Those affected come disproportionately from families with low earnings. The policy is estimated to reduce the number of jobs by 73-92 thousand or 1.2 to 1.5 percent.

Job-Related Education and Training among Younger Workers

Abstract: This paper examines younger workers' job-relevant post-secondary education, formal on-the-job and informal on-the-job training. Using data from a panel study of 1985 Edmonton high school and university graduates, we examine the extent to which individuals who made the school-to-work transition during the late 1980s are actively participating in their own labor market upgrading. We also use employees' perceptions to document the content and usefulness of this education and training. Our data suggest that job-relevant skills are obtained from a diverse combination of sources within workplaces and educational institutions. We conclude by exploring the policy implications of these findings in the context of debates about the link between human resource development and economic competitiveness.

The Impact of the Capital Gains Exemption on Capital Markets

Abstract: Using event study methodology, we test the hypothesis that the 1985 capital gains exemption decreased the marginal effective tax rate on capital gains using two samples of stock market prices that control for industry and firm level effects of other aspects of the budget. We derive estimates of the impact of the exemption on the effective capital gains tax rate, and on the user cost of capital. Using existing estimates of the relationship between the user cost of capital and investment, we find that, depending upon the sample, the exemption may have increased real investment by as much as six per cent, or had no impact at all.

Factors Related to Organizational Change and Equity for Women Faculty in Ontario Universities

Abstract: Au cours de la derniere d6cennie, les universitds ontariennes ont regu des pressions internes et externes pour accroitre le pourcentage de femmes au sein de leur corps professoral. A l'aide d'dlments propres a la recherche en theorie des organisations, nous examinons le recrutement et l'int6gration des femmes professeurs pendant la d6cennie 1980-1990 dans 17 universit6s ontariennes. Les recherches recentes dans le domaine ont identifid le r81e qu'ont jou6 certaines caractdristiques organisationnelles dans l'intdgration des travailleurs des deux sexes. Des hypotheses liees a l'impact de la taille, la croissance, l'orientation a l'dgard de la recherche, la syndicalisation et la masse critique de femmes sur le recrutement de femmes, sont explorees ' travers une analyse multivaride. Diff6rents aspects associ6s a la culture de l'universit6, a ses dispositions a l'egard de l'6quit6 et aux politiques sociales externes en lien avec l'implantation de l'6quit6 dans l'emploi, sont 6galement 6tudi6s en se servant de notre enquete aupres des universites ontariennes mende en 1989 et 1990 (Drakich, Smith, Stewart et Fox, 1991). La taille des institutions est associde de fagon significative ai l'integration des femmes professeurs; les plus grandes institutions ont moins de chances de changer. De plus, alors que les pressions gouvernementales ont joud un r61e n6gligeable de catalyseur, des politiques internes pouss6es d'6quit' dans l'emploi ont eu davantage de succbs. Les r6sultats de cette recherche ont des implications directes pour la conception et la mise en place de politiques sociales liees a l'6quit6 dans l'emploi.

Who Paid the Taxes in Canada, 1951-1988?

Abstract: This paper measures the changes in total tax incidence in Canada for selected years from 1951 to 1988. It presents the first set of time-consistent estimates of the effect of all Canadian taxes on the distribution of income in Canada. The methodology builds up a comprehensive measure of broad income, which includes the first inflation-adjusted measure of capital income in a tax incidence study. The key findings are that over 1951-88: (1) average tax rates for the poorest 10 percent and the richest 2 percent of Canadian families fell, whereas tax rates for most other families in the middle rose; (2) while in 1951 the tax incidence pattern was regressive over the low income range and highly progressive over the upper income range, it has evolved into one that resembles a flat rate tax system, with some progressivity over the lower income range and for the richest 2 percent of Canadian families.

The Canadian general election of 1993

Abstract: Alan Frizzell and Jon H. Pammett's report on the Canadian General Election of 1993. Alan Frizzell, BA, MA, is a well-known pollster and political analyst. He is co-author of the three previous volumes of The Canadian General Election in 1984, 1988, and 1993. Jon H. Pammett is a political science professor at Ottawa's Carleton University and is the co-editor of several studies of Canadian elections, including, most recently, The Canadian Federal Election of 2008.

Canadian Child Benefits: Behavioural Consequences and Income Adequacy

Abstract: This paper assesses two dimensions of the new Canadian child benefit system. First, evidence is presented to show that the earned-income supplement (EIS) will not increase the labour supply of parents with low earnings. Second, the paper demonstrates that the level of child benefits is low by international standards, both in terms of offsetting child costs for all families with children and in terms of alleviating child poverty.

More Evidence on the Effect of Higher Unemployment on the Canadian Size Distribution of Income

Abstract: This paper provides evidence that cyclical unemployment is associated with increased income inequality in Canada. The empirical results reinforce the recent findings of Erksoy (1981-1987). Erksoy used a dynamic micro-simulation to model the period from 1981 to 1987. In contrast to his work, my paper takes a macroeconomic perspective and uses an income share model. I examine the period from 1981 to 1992 using data from the "Survey of Consumer Finances." It is striking that two such different approaches reach the same conclusion.

Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney: In Search of a New Bureaucracy

Abstract: This work suggests that the 1980s were an especially tumultuous decade for the bureaucracies of Great Britain, the United States and Canada. Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney came to office convinced that the bureaucracies of their countries were massively flawed: in addition to exerting too much influence over policy, they were inefficient, resistant to change and responsible for many economic woes. Savoie, a writer, scholar and a senior administrator in the Canadian government, considers the war of reform waged by the leaders of these major industrialised countries. Reagan declared that he had come to Washington \"to drain the swamp\" of bureaucracy; he set up the Grace Commission to investigate the operation of the US government. Thatcher and Mulroney were equally committed to reform and initiated wide-ranging changes. By the end of the decade, the changes were dramatic. Many government operations had been privatised in all three countries, and new management techniques had been introduced. In Great Britain, one observer judged that the changes were historically as important as the collapse of Keynesian economics. This book asks: is government now better in these three countries, and was the political leadership right in focusing on management of the bureaucracy as the villain? Professor Savoie suggests that the reforms overlooked problems now urgently requiring attention and, at the same time, attempted to address non-existent problems. His viewpoint combines theory and practice, and should appeal to scholars, students and practitioners. His research is based, in part, on interviews with 62 officials, almost all in the executive branch, of the governments of Great Britain, the United States and Canada.

Economic Issues in the Taxation of Capital Gains

Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on the effects of capital gains taxes in the United States, focusing on three major issues. First, it considers the long-run effects of capital gains taxes on the level of realizations and revenues, including the extent to which the literature has resolved the issue of whether the realizations response to a capital gains tax will be large enough to result in a revenue increase. Second, it examines the efficiency implications of capital gains taxes, including effects on saving and investment, the 'lock-in' effect, and effects on risk-taking. Finally, the paper reviews several recent studies of the distributional effects of capital gains taxation.