Measuring off-reserve aboriginal poverty and income inequality in Canada
| dc.contributor.author | Tazmeen, Ahmed | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Hudson, Ian (Economics) Wuttunee, Wanda (Native Studies) Clara, Ian (Community Health Sciences) MacLean, Brian K. (Laurentian University) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Loxley, John (Economics) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-10-05T14:32:29Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-10-05T14:32:29Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2012-10-05 | |
| dc.degree.discipline | Economics | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Though there has been substantial research on poverty and inequality in Canada, the issue of Aboriginal poverty and inequality has not yet been examined in a systematic manner. The issue has been discussed, in some cases, as a part of the overall poverty profile, and mostly analysed in a cross-sectional manner. A complete and methodical study of Aboriginal poverty and inequality that allows behaviour of poverty and inequality to be analysed over time remains to be initiated. In order to get a comprehensive comparative picture of Aboriginal income poverty and inequality in Canada, the research measures off-reserve Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal income poverty and inequality for the period 1996-2007 and compares the results for off-reserve Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population groups. For measurement purposes Statistics Canada’s low income cut-offs are considered as poverty lines. Several commonly known along with some axiomatically correct poverty indices such as Headcount Ratio, Income Gap Ratio, Poverty Gap Index, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke Index, Sen Index and some modifications of the Sen Index such as the Sen-Shorrocks-Thon (SSTO) Index are used. The Gini coefficient is used as the measure of inequality. Both pre-tax and post-tax incomes are considered. Though a substantial decline in off-reserve Aboriginal poverty is recorded by most of the poverty indices by early 2000s, off-reserve Aboriginal poverty remains higher than non-Aboriginal poverty. After the decline, these off-reserve Aboriginal poverty indices remain stable and show some decline from mid-2000s onwards. Income inequality among the non-Aboriginal population remains stable throughout the period whereas off-reserve Aboriginal income inequality shows a slightly increasing trend in the 2000s. According to the breakdown of the SSTO Index, the decline in off-reserve Aboriginal poverty is mainly due to decline in the headcount ratio. | en_US |
| dc.description.note | February 2013 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/9305 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | Aboriginal | en_US |
| dc.subject | poverty | en_US |
| dc.subject | income | en_US |
| dc.subject | inequality | en_US |
| dc.title | Measuring off-reserve aboriginal poverty and income inequality in Canada | en_US |
| dc.type | doctoral thesis | en_US |