Equilibrium unemployment rates in Canada, USA and UK, 1962 – 2016

Figure 1 suggests a lot more structural change in the Canadian and British labour market in the 1970s and 1980s.

Figure 1: equilibrium unemployment rates, Canada, USA and UK, 1962 – 2016

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Source: OECD Economic Outlook June 2015 via OECD StatExtract.

Nothing much at all seems to have happened to the equilibrium unemployment rate in the USA since the OECD first started calculating it. I doubt that so that will be subject of a future blog. Namely, the large changes in natural unemployment rates in the post-war period, largely to demographic changes such as the baby boom.

NAFTA v. the Common Market: trading across the French, German, Italian, British, Canadian and US borders – World Bank Doing Business rankings compared

Figure 1: World Bank Doing Business rankings and sub rankings for trading across the French, German, Italian, British, Canadian and US borders, 2014

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Source: World Bank Doing Business database; note: cost of importing and exporting not included.

Figure 2: World Bank Doing Business rankings – cost of importing and exporting across the French, German, Italian, British, Canadian and US borders, 2014

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Source: World Bank Doing Business database; note: cost of importing and exporting not included.

How many working poor in USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand?

Figure 1: working poor – proportion of employed persons with income below the poverty line (50% of median disposable income) living in households with a working age head and at least one worker in USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, 2013

image

Source: In It Together – Why Less Inequality Benefits All – © OECD 2015, OECD Income Distribution Database (IDD), www.oecd.org/social/income-distribution-database.htm, Table 1.A1.1. Key indicators on the distribution of household disposable income and poverty, 2007, 2011 and 2013 or most recent year.

Females/male earnings ratio by partner status and motherhood – USA, UK, Canada

Figure 1: Female/male earnings ratio by partner status and motherhood, 2004 image Source: LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg – Wave VI; individuals with positive earnings only. .

Poverty rates by age of youngest child – USA, UK, Canada and Australia

Figure 1: poverty rates by age of youngest child, 2004

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Source: LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

Doing Business in the USA and Canada – World Bank rankings compared

Figure 1: Doing Business in the USA, Canada, World Bank rankings, 2014

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Source: Doing Business – Measuring Business Regulations – World Bank Group.

It’s easier to do business in the USA and Canada because of the difficulties with construction permits and getting electricity and few more problems with enforcing contracts and registering property. It is easy to open a business in Canada.

War Plan Red: The 1930 US War Department plan to invade Canada

Top performers in science by gender, USA, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

Why are Japanese 15-year-old girls as good at science as teenagers anywhere else in the world?

Figure 1: Percentage achieving the proficiency level 5 or higher in sciences by gender, USA, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 2012

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Source: OECD StatExtract.

Top performers in maths by gender, USA, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

Figure 1: Percentage achieving the proficiency level 5 or higher in mathematics by gender, USA, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 2012

image

Source: OECD StatExtract.

Top performers in reading by gender, USA, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

Figure 1: percentage achieving the proficiency level 5 or higher in reading by gender, USA, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 2012

image

Source: OECD StatExtract.

Poverty rates in Canada, UK and USA since 1985

Despite 30 years of the ravages of neoliberalism, Reagan, Thatcher, and Blair, the whole lot, poverty has not gone up or down much at all.

Figure 1: relative poverty rate (% of persons living with less than 50% of equivalised disposable income), USA, UK and Canada

image

Source: In It Together – Why Less Inequality Benefits All – © OECD 2015

Why is the Australian top 0.1% far less greedy than the UK, US and Canadian top 0.1%?

Figure 1: top 0.1% share of gross income, Australia, UK, USA and Canada since 1946

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Source: Chartbook of Economic Inequality.

The top 0.1% in Australia is earning not much more than it did in 1946. For most of the post-war period,  the Australian top 0.1% earned less than what it earned in 1946. The only spike in the earnings of the Australian top 0.1% occurred after the top tax rate of 66% was reduced to 49% in 1986.

There were major cuts in the top tax rates in Australia,the USA and UK in the early 1980s. Figure 1 shows that these top tax rate cuts were matched with a spike in the earnings of the top 0.1% subsequent to those large tax cuts.

Tertiary education attainment of young adults in Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK and Canada, 2000 and 2011

Figure 1: tertiary educational attainment of adults aged 25 to 34 in Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK and Canada, 2000 and 2011

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Source: OECD Factbook.

Child poverty rates in single parent and couple families, Anglo-Saxon countries

Figure 1: Child poverty rates by family type, Anglo-Saxon countries, 2010

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Source: OECD Family Database; Poverty thresholds are set at 50% of the median income of the entire population.

The Quantity and Quality of Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, American and English & Welsh Lives, 1965 to 1995

Figure 1: increase in real GDP and increase in real GDP plus life expectancy GDP increase equivalent, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and England & Wales, 1965 to 1995

image

Source: Becker, Gary S., Tomas J. Philipson, and Rodrigo R. Soares. The Quantity and Quality of Life and the Evolution of World Inequality, NBER Working Paper No. 9765 (June 2003).

GDP per capita is usually used to proxy for the quality of life of individuals living in different countries. Becker and his co-authors computed a "full" growth rate that incorporates the gains in health and life expectancy.

Figure 1 shows that New Zealand was way behind the other countries in improvements in the quantity and quality of life between 1965 and 1995. This brings new meaning to the two decades of lost growth between 1973 and 1995. Canada should refer to 1965 to 1995 as its golden era.

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