Roads to Prosperity by Gary Sands

Author:Gary Sands
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wayne State University Press

METHODOLOGY

Data Sources

Data from the Canadian census (1996, 2001, and 2006) describing demographic characteristics of these midsize metropolitan areas, supplemented by data from Industry Canada on employment and income, provide the basis of the analysis in the chapter. In particular, measures of talent (educational attainment, occupational mix) and diversity (immigration, racial/ethnic mix, lifestyle) are considered. Trends in these dimensions are compared to standard measures of economic prosperity such as employment and income (Moss, 1997). The issue of cause is important at this point. The analysis explores trends in immigration over time. For this purpose, immigration data from the three different census years are examined. The other purpose of the analysis it to examine the relative relationships between immigration, other types of diversity, and other community traits (described below) and economic health. For this part of the analysis prior year, census data (2001) are compared to later (2006) economic data. This approach has been used in previous work aimed at assessing initial levels of variables such as diversity with later economic conditions (Shearmur and Polese, 2005). Without definitively establishing causal ordering, it does consider relationships between past diversity levels and future economic health. Thus, the time ordering necessary to establish cause is incorporated into the analysis. Non-spuriousness cannot be ruled out, even with the inclusion of control variables; thus the findings suggest that particular past traits are related to economic health in the future but not with certainty that they cause it.

In order to provide a set of measures that are reasonably comparable, a location quotient was calculated for most of the variables. The location quotients compare the local value (expressed as a percent) with the corresponding provincial value. If the local value is identical to the provincial value, the location quotient is unity. Location quotient values greater than 1.0 indicate the locality has an above average concentration of the particular variable, while values less than 1.0 occur when the locality is below average. The calculated location quotients generally range between 0.5 and 2.0.

Table 6.1 Components of Diversity

Population diversity: Simpson’s Diversity Index based on Canadian-born and immigrants from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, United States, Africa, Middle East, South America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Oceania

Immigrant diversity: Simpson’s Diversity Index based on immigrants from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, United States, Africa, Middle East, South America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Oceania

Percent immigrated from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, United States, Africa, Middle East, South America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Oceania

Percent non-Christian

Percent visible minority

Percent composition of the visible minority population

Percent same-sex couples

Percent speaking English, French, other languages

Operationalization of Variables

Diversity: The operationalization of diversity is at best a subjective enterprise. Based on previous research and data available in the census, Table 6.1 lists the variables used to measure diversity. Two of the indicators in this table—general diversity and immigrant diversity—are based on the Simpson’s Diversity Index, calculated using each of the three waves of census data.2 The Simpson Diversity Index ranges between 0 and 1, with higher values indicating greater diversity; specifically,

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