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  • Articles and reports: 11F0019M2016381
    Description:

    Changes in health status may affect not just the individuals who experience such changes, but also their family members. For example, if the main earner in a family loses his or her ability to generate income due to a health shock, it invariably affects the financial situation of the spouse and other dependents. In addition, spouses and working-age children may themselves increase or reduce their labour supply to make up for the lost income (“added worker effect”) or care for a sick family member (“caregiver effect”). Since consumption smoothing and self-insurance occur at the household level, the financial effects of health for other family members have important policy implications. To shed light on such effects, this study analyzes how one spouse’s cancer diagnosis affects the employment and earnings of the other spouse and (before-tax) total family income using administrative data from Canada.

    Release date: 2016-07-22

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2016002
    Description:

    Statistics Canada currently measures low-income using three low income lines: the Low Income Cut-offs (LICOs), the Low Income Measures (LIMs), and the Market Basket Measure (MBM). This publication provides a description of the methods used to arrive at each of these thresholds. It also explains how low-income status and various low-income statistics are determined. Tables presenting thresholds and low-income statistics are available on CANSIM.

    Release date: 2016-07-08

  • Articles and reports: 11F0019M2015371
    Description:

    This paper investigates whether registered pension plans (RPPs) help households prepare financially for retirement or simply substitute for other forms of private saving. This issue is addressed using a panel of 1.8 million Canadian households, from 1991 to 2010, which appear in the Longitudinal Administrative Databank. The analysis controls for correlations in savings across accounts due to unobserved tastes for saving by exploiting the fact that employer contribution rates increase discontinuously on earnings above the average industrial wage, a unique feature of occupational pensions in Canada, the effect being estimated in a Regression Kink Design.

    Release date: 2015-12-21

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2011002
    Description:

    In order to provide a holographic or complete picture of low income, Statistics Canada uses three complementary low income lines: the Low Income Cut-offs (LICOs), the Low Income Measures (LIMs) and the Market Basket Measure (MBM). While the first two lines were developed by Statistics Canada, the MBM is based on concepts developed by Human Resources and Skill Development Canada. Though these measures differ from one another, they give a generally consistent picture of low income status over time. None of these measures is the best. Each contributes its own perspective and its own strengths to the study of low income, so that cumulatively, the three provide a better understanding of the phenomenon of low income as a whole. These measures are not measures of poverty, but strictly measures of low income.

    Release date: 2011-06-15

  • Articles and reports: 12-001-X201000211378
    Description:

    One key to poverty alleviation or eradication in the third world is reliable information on the poor and their location, so that interventions and assistance can be effectively targeted to the neediest people. Small area estimation is one statistical technique that is used to monitor poverty and to decide on aid allocation in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals. Elbers, Lanjouw and Lanjouw (ELL) (2003) proposed a small area estimation methodology for income-based or expenditure-based poverty measures, which is implemented by the World Bank in its poverty mapping projects via the involvement of the central statistical agencies in many third world countries, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, and is incorporated into the World Bank software program PovMap. In this paper, the ELL methodology which consists of first modeling survey data and then applying that model to census information is presented and discussed with strong emphasis on the first phase, i.e., the fitting of regression models and on the estimated standard errors at the second phase. Other regression model fitting procedures such as the General Survey Regression (GSR) (as described in Lohr (1999) Chapter 11) and those used in existing small area estimation techniques: Pseudo-Empirical Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (Pseudo-EBLUP) approach (You and Rao 2002) and Iterative Weighted Estimating Equation (IWEE) method (You, Rao and Kovacevic 2003) are presented and compared with the ELL modeling strategy. The most significant difference between the ELL method and the other techniques is in the theoretical underpinning of the ELL model fitting procedure. An example based on the Philippines Family Income and Expenditure Survey is presented to show the differences in both the parameter estimates and their corresponding standard errors, and in the variance components generated from the different methods and the discussion is extended to the effect of these on the estimated accuracy of the final small area estimates themselves. The need for sound estimation of variance components, as well as regression estimates and estimates of their standard errors for small area estimation of poverty is emphasized.

    Release date: 2010-12-21

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2010002
    Description:

    This report compares the aggregate income estimates as published by four different statistical programs. The System of National Accounts provides a portrait of economic activity at the macro economic level. The three other programs considered generate data from a micro-economic perspective: two are survey based (Census of Population and Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics) and the third derives all its results from administrative data (Annual Estimates for Census Families and Individuals). A review of the conceptual differences across the sources is followed by a discussion of coverage issues and processing discrepancies that might influence estimates. Aggregate income estimates with adjustments where possible to account for known conceptual differences are compared. Even allowing for statistical variability, some reconciliation issues remain. These are sometimes are explained by the use of different methodologies or data gathering instruments but they sometimes also remain unexplained.

    Release date: 2010-04-06

  • Articles and reports: 11-522-X200800010996
    Description:

    In recent years, the use of paradata has become increasingly important to the management of collection activities at Statistics Canada. Particular attention has been paid to social surveys conducted over the phone, like the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). For recent SLID data collections, the number of call attempts was capped at 40 calls. Investigations of the SLID Blaise Transaction History (BTH) files were undertaken to assess the impact of the cap on calls.The purpose of the first study was to inform decisions as to the capping of call attempts, the second study focused on the nature of nonresponse given the limit of 40 attempts.

    The use of paradata as auxiliary information for studying and accounting for survey nonresponse was also examined. Nonresponse adjustment models using different paradata variables gathered at the collection stage were compared to the current models based on available auxiliary information from the Labour Force Survey.

    Release date: 2009-12-03

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2008004
    Description:

    Low income cut-offs (LICOs) are income thresholds, determined by analysing family expenditure data, below which families will devote a larger share of income to the necessities of food, shelter and clothing than the average family would. To reflect differences in the costs of necessities among different community and family sizes, LICOs are defined for five categories of community size and seven of family size.

    Low income Measures (LIMs), on the other hand, are strictly relative measures of low income, set at 50% of adjusted median family income. These measures are categorized according to the number of adults and children present in families, reflecting the economies of scale inherent in family size and composition. This publication incorporates a detailed description of the methods used to arrive at both measurements. It also explains how base years are defined and how LICOs are updated using the Consumer Price Index.

    Release date: 2008-06-04

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2004001
    Description:

    The purpose of this document is to describe the detailed methodology and assumptions behind the construction of the market basket measure (MBM) of low income. Also this document will raise some issues and highlight some data limitations related to the MBM.

    The MBM represents the cost of a basket that includes a nutritious diet, clothing and footwear, shelter, transportation, and other necessary goods and services (such as personal care items or household supplies).

    The MBM methodology was developed by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on Social Development Research and Information for Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).

    Release date: 2004-02-04

  • Articles and reports: 11F0019M2001158
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    Several recent papers have cited non-linearities in the relationship between incomes of parents and their children as evidence of important intergenerational credit constraints. This paper argues that any pattern in the conditional expectation function can be justified by a properly constructed story with credit constraints. This raises questions about the validity of the approach. Quantile regressions provide an alternative test. Using data from Canadian tax files, this paper finds results contrary to the credit constraints hypothesis; the non-linearities in the regression function are driven by the low-ability (unconstrained) sons rather than high-ability (presumably constrained) sons.

    Release date: 2001-01-30
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  • Articles and reports: 11F0019M2016381
    Description:

    Changes in health status may affect not just the individuals who experience such changes, but also their family members. For example, if the main earner in a family loses his or her ability to generate income due to a health shock, it invariably affects the financial situation of the spouse and other dependents. In addition, spouses and working-age children may themselves increase or reduce their labour supply to make up for the lost income (“added worker effect”) or care for a sick family member (“caregiver effect”). Since consumption smoothing and self-insurance occur at the household level, the financial effects of health for other family members have important policy implications. To shed light on such effects, this study analyzes how one spouse’s cancer diagnosis affects the employment and earnings of the other spouse and (before-tax) total family income using administrative data from Canada.

    Release date: 2016-07-22

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2016002
    Description:

    Statistics Canada currently measures low-income using three low income lines: the Low Income Cut-offs (LICOs), the Low Income Measures (LIMs), and the Market Basket Measure (MBM). This publication provides a description of the methods used to arrive at each of these thresholds. It also explains how low-income status and various low-income statistics are determined. Tables presenting thresholds and low-income statistics are available on CANSIM.

    Release date: 2016-07-08

  • Articles and reports: 11F0019M2015371
    Description:

    This paper investigates whether registered pension plans (RPPs) help households prepare financially for retirement or simply substitute for other forms of private saving. This issue is addressed using a panel of 1.8 million Canadian households, from 1991 to 2010, which appear in the Longitudinal Administrative Databank. The analysis controls for correlations in savings across accounts due to unobserved tastes for saving by exploiting the fact that employer contribution rates increase discontinuously on earnings above the average industrial wage, a unique feature of occupational pensions in Canada, the effect being estimated in a Regression Kink Design.

    Release date: 2015-12-21

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2011002
    Description:

    In order to provide a holographic or complete picture of low income, Statistics Canada uses three complementary low income lines: the Low Income Cut-offs (LICOs), the Low Income Measures (LIMs) and the Market Basket Measure (MBM). While the first two lines were developed by Statistics Canada, the MBM is based on concepts developed by Human Resources and Skill Development Canada. Though these measures differ from one another, they give a generally consistent picture of low income status over time. None of these measures is the best. Each contributes its own perspective and its own strengths to the study of low income, so that cumulatively, the three provide a better understanding of the phenomenon of low income as a whole. These measures are not measures of poverty, but strictly measures of low income.

    Release date: 2011-06-15

  • Articles and reports: 12-001-X201000211378
    Description:

    One key to poverty alleviation or eradication in the third world is reliable information on the poor and their location, so that interventions and assistance can be effectively targeted to the neediest people. Small area estimation is one statistical technique that is used to monitor poverty and to decide on aid allocation in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals. Elbers, Lanjouw and Lanjouw (ELL) (2003) proposed a small area estimation methodology for income-based or expenditure-based poverty measures, which is implemented by the World Bank in its poverty mapping projects via the involvement of the central statistical agencies in many third world countries, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, and is incorporated into the World Bank software program PovMap. In this paper, the ELL methodology which consists of first modeling survey data and then applying that model to census information is presented and discussed with strong emphasis on the first phase, i.e., the fitting of regression models and on the estimated standard errors at the second phase. Other regression model fitting procedures such as the General Survey Regression (GSR) (as described in Lohr (1999) Chapter 11) and those used in existing small area estimation techniques: Pseudo-Empirical Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (Pseudo-EBLUP) approach (You and Rao 2002) and Iterative Weighted Estimating Equation (IWEE) method (You, Rao and Kovacevic 2003) are presented and compared with the ELL modeling strategy. The most significant difference between the ELL method and the other techniques is in the theoretical underpinning of the ELL model fitting procedure. An example based on the Philippines Family Income and Expenditure Survey is presented to show the differences in both the parameter estimates and their corresponding standard errors, and in the variance components generated from the different methods and the discussion is extended to the effect of these on the estimated accuracy of the final small area estimates themselves. The need for sound estimation of variance components, as well as regression estimates and estimates of their standard errors for small area estimation of poverty is emphasized.

    Release date: 2010-12-21

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2010002
    Description:

    This report compares the aggregate income estimates as published by four different statistical programs. The System of National Accounts provides a portrait of economic activity at the macro economic level. The three other programs considered generate data from a micro-economic perspective: two are survey based (Census of Population and Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics) and the third derives all its results from administrative data (Annual Estimates for Census Families and Individuals). A review of the conceptual differences across the sources is followed by a discussion of coverage issues and processing discrepancies that might influence estimates. Aggregate income estimates with adjustments where possible to account for known conceptual differences are compared. Even allowing for statistical variability, some reconciliation issues remain. These are sometimes are explained by the use of different methodologies or data gathering instruments but they sometimes also remain unexplained.

    Release date: 2010-04-06

  • Articles and reports: 11-522-X200800010996
    Description:

    In recent years, the use of paradata has become increasingly important to the management of collection activities at Statistics Canada. Particular attention has been paid to social surveys conducted over the phone, like the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). For recent SLID data collections, the number of call attempts was capped at 40 calls. Investigations of the SLID Blaise Transaction History (BTH) files were undertaken to assess the impact of the cap on calls.The purpose of the first study was to inform decisions as to the capping of call attempts, the second study focused on the nature of nonresponse given the limit of 40 attempts.

    The use of paradata as auxiliary information for studying and accounting for survey nonresponse was also examined. Nonresponse adjustment models using different paradata variables gathered at the collection stage were compared to the current models based on available auxiliary information from the Labour Force Survey.

    Release date: 2009-12-03

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2008004
    Description:

    Low income cut-offs (LICOs) are income thresholds, determined by analysing family expenditure data, below which families will devote a larger share of income to the necessities of food, shelter and clothing than the average family would. To reflect differences in the costs of necessities among different community and family sizes, LICOs are defined for five categories of community size and seven of family size.

    Low income Measures (LIMs), on the other hand, are strictly relative measures of low income, set at 50% of adjusted median family income. These measures are categorized according to the number of adults and children present in families, reflecting the economies of scale inherent in family size and composition. This publication incorporates a detailed description of the methods used to arrive at both measurements. It also explains how base years are defined and how LICOs are updated using the Consumer Price Index.

    Release date: 2008-06-04

  • Articles and reports: 75F0002M2004001
    Description:

    The purpose of this document is to describe the detailed methodology and assumptions behind the construction of the market basket measure (MBM) of low income. Also this document will raise some issues and highlight some data limitations related to the MBM.

    The MBM represents the cost of a basket that includes a nutritious diet, clothing and footwear, shelter, transportation, and other necessary goods and services (such as personal care items or household supplies).

    The MBM methodology was developed by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on Social Development Research and Information for Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).

    Release date: 2004-02-04

  • Articles and reports: 11F0019M2001158
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    Several recent papers have cited non-linearities in the relationship between incomes of parents and their children as evidence of important intergenerational credit constraints. This paper argues that any pattern in the conditional expectation function can be justified by a properly constructed story with credit constraints. This raises questions about the validity of the approach. Quantile regressions provide an alternative test. Using data from Canadian tax files, this paper finds results contrary to the credit constraints hypothesis; the non-linearities in the regression function are driven by the low-ability (unconstrained) sons rather than high-ability (presumably constrained) sons.

    Release date: 2001-01-30
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