Mass migration and inequality
Description
This paper seeks to study the relationship between immigration and income inequality, specifically within the context of Canada between 1976-2002. This period was chosen because there was a high level of variation in immigration volume during this timeframe due to the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. I construct two separate OLS regression models. The first uses total immigration as the primary explanatory variable; the second also uses immigration as the explanatory variable but distinguishes between Hong Kong immigration and non-Hong Kong immigration in order to detect if there are differential effects on inequality between the two immigrant groups. I find that total immigration and non-Hong Kong immigration have a statistically significant positive effect on inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient and the P90/P50, the P90/P10, and the P90/P10 indices. Meanwhile, Hong Kong immigration has a statistically insignificant effect on inequality. My findings suggest that inequality increases by decreasing the relative wages of earners at the lower end of the income distribution.