How the east contributes to wealth inequality

A fire might have been ignited under western Canada when policy makers implemented a business friendly tax structure, but positive investor sentiment is going to take it from campfire to bonfire before the rest of Canada (hereafter, TROC) even gets its matches out of the box. The combination of two recently released reports makes me believe this.

First, The Fraser Institute released its Canadian Provincial Investment Climate Report: 2007 Edition. In it, they publish something called the The Provincial Investment Climate Index, which has seven components: 1. Corporate income tax (CIT), 2. Fiscal prudence, 3. Personal income tax (PIT), 4. Transportation infrastructure, 5. Corporate capital tax (CCT), 6. Labour market regulation, and 7. Burden of regulation

Here’s an abstract from a press release:

The Provincial Investment Climate Index objectively evaluates the public policies that create and sustain a positive investment climate. It ranks each province on a scale of one to 10.

Alberta earned the highest score, 8.9 out of 10, and was clearly Canada's top province for policies that encourage and sustain a positive investment climate. BC followed in second position but some distance behind with a score of 6.0 out of 10. Saskatchewan is third with a score of 5.3 out of 10. The three western provinces were the only ones with an overall score above 5.0.

Ontario was fourth overall with a score of 5.0 while Quebec, with a score of 3.0, was ninth.

Jason Clemens, a co-author of the report, had this to say:

The low scores for Quebec and Ontario are among the most worrying aspects of this year's report. These two provinces are extremely important to the Canadian economy, yet they have chosen to implement policies that are not conducive to attracting investment.

As the west becomes more business friendly, wealth tends to blow that way. But then there's a multiplier effect that kicks in when wealthy westerners begin investing to a degree that surpasses that of individuals elsewhere across Canada.

Earlier this month TD Waterhouse released a report which claims that “…those living in the west are more aggressive investors with higher expectations and greater use of financial plans and advice than those living in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Ontarian investors, in accordance with their geography, are somewhat in the middle.”

I would attempt to explain this two ways: i) as individuals in the west become more wealthy and more experienced in investing they become less risk averse in their investment strategies; and, ii) we’re seeing that individuals who have a higher propensity to invest also have it in their interest to move, or remain, where the business climate is most attractive: in the west (whether for wage or salary prospects, or for entrepreneurial incentives).

But studies in behavioural economics suggests that there's more here than simply the fact that wealthy westerners will be getting wealthier by putting their money to work. Westerners will also gain experience ahead of TROC. I'm reminded of a paper by Daniel Kahneman where he explains that experienced traders show less reluctance to trade, almost as if they learn to "base their choice on long-term value, rather than on the immediate emotions associated with getting or giving up options." The parallel to the west seems convincing.

Further, while propensity to invest is rocketing in western Canada, it's also the case that in TROC, it's really, really, not. The TD Waterhouse report tells us that “the most favoured type of investment in Quebec is savings held in a savings account (55%).” Talk about low expectations.

The bottom line is that the longer it takes TROC to become business-friendly (or ditch the welfare state sentiment, in the case of some regions), the greater the division of wealth will be across Canada. This will hurt TROC for obvious reasons, and it’ll hurt westerners who will be pressured into being good sports and promoting equality through transfer payments.

Addendum: Damn-it. My images always come out as good as dirt. I vow to work on that at some point.