Statistics Canada just came up with a study on the top income share of the top 1% in Canada. As I have explained elsewhere, my view of inequality is that: a) it has increased; b) not as much as we think; c) a lot of the increase is from desirable factors (personal utility maximization differing from income maximization or international immigration) or neutral factors (demography, marriage); d) that the inequality that is worrisome stems either from birth or government manipulations of the market and; e) that those stemming from government manipulations, direct (like subsidizing firms) or indirect (like the war on drugs which means that a large number of individuals are jailed and then released with a “prison earnings penalty” which stymies their income levels and growth), are the easiest to fight.

The recent Statistics Canada study allows me to make my point again with regards to element C…