Who Paid for the Canadian Welfare State during 1955-1988?
Author(s)
Sepehri, Ardeshir; Chernomas, Robert
Abstract
Who bears the burden of welfare state expenditure, capital or labor? To some, the answer is capital. Some go so far as to claim that this “vertical” redistribution was responsible for the economic stagnation that occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Was this really the case in Canada and the United States? This paper empirically examines the distributive activities of the Canadian welfare state for period 1955-1988, and compares these findings to the US during the same period.