Crisis and continuity: pandemic benefits and inequality in Canada
| dc.contributor.author | Dandenault, Natalie | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Hudson, Mark (Sociology) | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Hajer, Jesse (Economics) | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Hudson, Ian | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-05-02T20:37:49Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-05-02T20:37:49Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-04-28 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2025-04-28T15:03:04Z | en_US |
| dc.degree.discipline | Economics | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts (M.A.) | |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines the redistributive impact of Canada’s pandemic income support programs, particularly the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), and situates these findings within a broader political-economic analysis of neoliberal austerity. While these emergency benefits were not designed to reduce inequality, they nonetheless contributed to a temporary but significant decrease in after-tax income inequality across Canadian provinces. Using Gini coefficients and income share data, this study demonstrates that government intervention—especially when structured as near-universal income support—can meaningfully reduce inequality in the short term. However, the reversion to fiscal restraint and limited social spending in the post-pandemic recovery reveals the political and institutional constraints that prevented such redistributive measures from becoming permanent. The thesis argues that although moments of disruption can open space for structural change, the absence of sustained political coalitions and the persistence of neoliberal ideological frameworks ultimately foreclosed the possibility of a more equitable post-pandemic settlement. In doing so, the paper highlights both the possibilities and limits of crisis-induced reform in Canada’s political economy. | |
| dc.description.note | October 2025 | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/39066 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.subject | Inequality | |
| dc.subject | Pandemic | |
| dc.subject | Austerity | |
| dc.subject | Social Policy | |
| dc.title | Crisis and continuity: pandemic benefits and inequality in Canada | |
| local.subject.manitoba | no | |
| oaire.awardNumber | 766 | |
| oaire.awardTitle | Canada Graduate Scholarship - Masters | |
| oaire.awardURI | https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/PG-CS/CGSM-BESCM_eng.asp | |
| project.funder.identifier | SSHRC: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000155 | |
| project.funder.name | Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada |