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Title: Tops and Bottoms: Wealth Extremes in Late Nineteenth Century Ontario - Where were the Rich People

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: Late nineteenth century Ontario was market by great wealth inequality as evidenced from census-linked probate data for the years 1892 and 1902. The average wealth of decedents reporting an average wealth pf $169,415 and the bottom one percent an average of $43. Compared to the United States, Britain, or even new settler economies such as Argentina or Australia, Ontario seems curiously bereft of larger supercharged estates more characteristic of the age of the Robber Barons. This leads to the natural question: where are the wealth extremes and great fortunes of late nineteenth century Ontario? Explanations explored include a slower rate of economic growth, predominance of Montreal rather than Toronto as an economic center, and migration of Canadians to pursue opportunities in the United States. it is not that nineteenth century Canada did not generate rich people, it did not hang on to them in the long run thereby generating perceptions of a shortage of rich people in Canada that persist to present.

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Authors: Di Matteo, Livio

Publisher: Economic History Services

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration

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