Charles M. Beach

Professor
Department of Economics
Dunning Hall Rooom 231
Queen's University
Kingston ON K7L 3N6 		[PICTURE OF Charles Beach]
Phone (613) 533-2278
Fax: (613) 533-6668 		E-mail: beachc@econ.queensu.ca

Personal Information

Charles Beach is Professor of Economics at Queen's University where he has taught since 1972. He obtained his BA(Hons.) from McGill University and PhD from Princeton University. His main research interests are in income distribution and applied labour market analysis. He teaches in the areas of applied econometrics, income distribution, labour economics and industrial relations. He was a co-founder of the Canadian Econometric Study Group, co-initiator of the Canadian Household Panel Survey initiative, co-founding member of the Canadian Employment Research Forum, and Chair of the Data Liberation Initiative. He has served as adviser to numerous government departments and agencies. From 1995 to 2002, he was Editor of Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques. He was Director of the John Deutsch Institute from 2001 to 2009.

Books and Major Reports Published
  • Distribution of Income and Wealth: Theory and Evidence for Ontario, with the collaboration of Frank Flatters and David E. Card (University of Toronto Press, 1981), 389 pages.

  • Taxation and Savings in Canada, with Robin W. Boadway and Neil Bruce (Economic Council of Canada, 1988), 160 pages.

  • Policy Forum on the Role of Immigration in Canada's Future, with Alan G. Green, eds. (John Deutsch Institute, Queen's University, 1989) 108 pages.

  • Characteristics of Labour Market Change: Preliminary Evidence from the Labour Market Activity Survey, with Michael G. Abbott and Stephen F. Kaliski, Statistics Canada LMAS Analytical Study (December 1990), 172 pages.

  • Labour Market Polarization and Social Policy Reform, with Keith G. Banting, eds. (School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, 1995), 259 pages.

  • Are We Becoming Two Societies? Income Polarization and the Middle Class in Canada, with George A. Slotsve, (C.D. Howe Institute, Toronto, 1996), 160 pages.

  • Transition and Structural Change in the North American Labour Market, with Michael G. Abbott and Richard P. Chaykowski, eds., Queen's Industrial Relations Centre and the John Deutsch Institute (IRC Press, 1997), 356 pages.

  • Canadian Immigration Policy for the 21st Century, with Alan G. Green and Jeffrey G. Reitz, eds., John Deutsch Institute (McGill-Queen's Press, 2003), 644 pages.

  • The 2003 Federal Budget: Conflicting Tensions, with Thomas A. Wilson, eds., John Deutsch Institute (McGill-Queen's Press, 2004), 290 pages.

  • Higher Education in Canada, with Robin Boadway and Marvin McInnis, eds., John Deutsch Institute (McGill-Queen's Press, 2005), 594 pages.

  • A Challenge for Higher Education in Ontario, ed., John Deutsch Institute (McGill-Queen's Press, 2005), 106 pages.

  • Health Services Restructuring in Canada: New Evidence and New Directions, with Richard P. Chaykowski, Sam Shortt, France St.-Hilaire, and Arthur Sweetman, eds., John Deutsch Institute (McGill-Queen's Press, 2006), 392 pages.

  • The 2006 Federal Budget: Rethinking Fiscal Priorities, with Michael Smart and Thomas A. Wilson, eds., John Deutsch Institute (McGill-Queen's Press, 2007), 221 pages.

  • Retirement Policy Issues in Canada, with Michael Abbott, Robin Boadway and James G. MacKinnon, eds., John Deutsch Institute (McGill-Queen's Press, 2009), 488 pages.

  • The 2009 Federal Budget: Challenge, Response and Retrospect, with Bev Dahlby and Paul Hobson, eds., John Deutsch Institute (McGill-Queen's Press, 2010), 360 pages.

  • Toward Improving Canada's Skilled Immigration Policy: An Evaluation Approach, With Alan G. Green and Christopher Worswick (C. D. Howe Institute, 2011), 172 pages.

  • Expanding Our Routes to Success: The Final Report by Ontario’s Expert Roundtable on Immigration, with 13 co-authors, November 2012, Queen’s Printer for Ontario, ISBN 978-1-4606-3772-7, 60 pages.

Papers Published (Refereed Journals)
  • "Cyclical Impacts on the Personal Distribution of Income", Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Vol. 5 (Winter 1976), pp. 29-52.

  • "Cyclical Sensitivity of Aggregate Income Inequality", Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. LIX (February 1977), pp. 56-66.

  • "An Alternative Approach to the Specification of Structural Transition Functions", Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 10 (February 1977), pp. 132-141.

  • "A Maximum Likelihood Procedure for Regressons with Autocorrelated Disturbances", with James G. MacKinnon, Econometrica, Vol. 45 (January 1978), pp. 51-58.

  • "Full Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Second-Order Autoregressive Error Models", with James G. MacKinnon, Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 7 (April 1978), pp. 187-198.

  • "Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Singular Equation Systems with Auto-Regressive Disturbance", with James G. MacKinnon, International Economic Review, Vol. 20 (June 1979), pp. 401-406.

  • "Aspects of Collegial Decision-Making in Selecting a University Central Academic Computer", with David T. Barnard and Douglas J.K. Mewhort, Journal of the Association for Educational Data Systems, Vol. 15 (Winter 1982), pp. 55-66.

  • "Estimated Payroll Tax Incidence and Aggregate Demand for Labour in the United Kingdom", with Frederick S. Balfour, Economica, Vol. 50 (February 1983), pp. 35-48.

  • "Unrestricted Statistical Inference with Lorenz Curves and Income Shares", with Russell Davidson, The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 50 (October 1983), pp. 723-735; reprinted in The Economics of Poverty and Inequality, ed. by Frank A. Cowell (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002).

  • "Measuring the Duration of Unemployment from Gross Flow Data", with S.F. Kaliski, Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 16 (May 1983), pp. 258-263.

  • "The Impact of the 1979 Unemployment Insurance Amendments", with S.F. Kaliski, Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 9 (June 1983), pp. 164-173.

  • "Social Security and Aggregate Capital Accumulation Revisited: Dynamic Simultaneous Estimates in a Wealth-Generation Model", with R.W. Boadway and J.O. Gibbons, Economic Inquiry, Vol. 22 (January 1984), pp. 68-80.

  • "Prizes in an Industrial Union Environment", with R.P. Chaykowski, Journal of Labour Research, Vol. 6 (Spring 1985), pp. 181-198.

  • "Joint Confidence Intervals for Income Shares and Lorenz Curves", with James Richmond, International Economic Review, Vol. 26 (June 1985), pp. 439-450.

  • "Structural Unemployment: Demographic Change or Industrial Structure?", with S.F. Kaliski, Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 12 (June 1986), pp. 356-367.

  • "Lorenz Curve Inference with Sample Weights: An Application to the Distribution of Unemployment Experience", with S.F. Kaliski, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series "C"), Applied Statistics, Vol. 35, No. 1 (1986), pp. 38-45.

  • "Impact of Recession on the Distribution of Annual Unemployment", with S.F. Kaliski, Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations, Vol. 41, No. 2 (1986), pp. 317-328.

  • "The Distribution of Unemployment Spells: Canada, 1978-82", with S.F. Kaliski, Industrial and Labour Relations Review, Vol. 40, No. 2 (January 1987), pp. 254-267.

  • "Family Background in an Extended Earnings-Generation Model: Further Evidence", with Ross E. Finnie, Eastern Economic Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1 (January/March 1988), pp. 39-49.

  • "Dollars and Dreams: A Reduced Middle Class? - Alternative Explanations", Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Winter 1989), pp. 162-193.

  • "Factors Behind the Changes in Canada's Family Income Distribution and the Share of the Middle Class", with Catherine J. McWatters, Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations, Vol. 45, No. 1 (1990), pp. 118-133.

  • "Immigrant Earnings Differentials in Canada: A More General Specification of Age and Experience Effects", with Michael G. Abbott, Empirical Economics, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1992), pp. 221-239.

  • "Is There a Double-Negative Effect on the Earnings of Immigrant Women?", with Christopher J. Worswick, Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 19 (March 1993), pp. 36-53. Received the John Vanderkamp Prize for the best article in Canadian Public Policy in 1993.

  • "Immigrant Earnings Differentials with Birth-Year Effects for Men in Canada: Postwar-1972", with Michael G. Abbott, Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 26 (August 1993), pp. 505-524 - lead article.

  • "Wages Changes and Job Changes of Canadian Women: Evidence from the 1986-87 Labour Market Activity Survey", with Michael G. Abbott, Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Spring 1994), pp. 429-460.

  • "Recession and Recovery: Men's Earnings Through the 1990's", with G.A. Slotsve, Journal of Income Distribution, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1994), pp. 121-146.

  • "Statistical Inference for Decile Means", with Victor Chow, John P. Formby, and G.A. Slotsve, Economics Letters, Vol. 45, No. 2 (1994), pp. 161-167.

  • "Distributional Employment Effects of Ontario Minimum Wage Proposals: A Microdata Approach," with Michael Shannon, Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 21 (September 1995), pp. 284-303.

  • "Characterizing Life-Cycle Wealth Distributions Using Dominance Criteria," with Fazley Siddiq, Empirical Economics, Vol. 20 (1995), pp. 551-575.

  • "Recent Trends in Employer Payroll Taxes," with Garnett Picot and Zhengxi Lin, Canadian Economic Observer, Statistics Canada cat. no. 11-010 (September 1995), 3.1-3.24.

  • "What Has Happened to Payroll Taxes in Canada over the Last Three Decades?," with Zhengxi Lin and Garnett Picot, Canadian Tax Journal, Vol. 44 (November 1996), pp. 1052-1077.

  • "Estimation and Inference for Normative Inequality Indices," with Ian Rongve, International Economic Review, Vol. 38 (February 1997), pp. 83-96.

  • "Inequality and Polarization of Male Earnings in the United States, 1968-1990," with R.P. Chaykowski and G.A. Slotsve, North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1998), pp. 135-151.

  • "Earnings Mobility 1982-1994: Women Gaining Ground and Low-Paid Males Slipping," with Ross Finnie, Canadian Business Economics, Vol. 6, No. 4 (November 1998), pp. 3-25 - lead article.

  • "Earnings Variability and Earnings Instability of Women and Men in Canada: How Do the 1990s Compare to the 1980s?," with Ross Finnie and David Gray, Canadian Public Policy (supplement on "The Linkages Between Economic Growth and Inequality"), Vol. XXIX (January 2003), pp. S15-S40.

  • "Longitudinal Analysis of Earnings Change in Canada," with Ross Finnie, Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 37 (February 2004), pp. 219-240, also appearing as Statistics Canada Analytical Studies Program Research Paper No. 227 (August 2004).

  • "The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions on the Instability and Long-Run Inequality of Workers' Earnings in Canada," with Ross Finnie and David Gray, Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations, Vol. 60 (Spring 2005), pp. 244-272; also appearing as Statistics Canada paper 11F0019MIE, No. 268 (February 2006).

  • "Impacts of the Point System and Immigration Policy Levers on Skill Characteristics of Canadian Immigrants", with Alan G. Green and Christopher Worswick, Research in Labor Economics, Vol. 27 (2008), pp. 349-402.

  • "Review of the Report of the Expert Panel on Older Workers", Canadian Public Policy, Vol. XXXV (December 2009), pp. 505-511.

  • "Long-Run Inequality and Short-Run Instability of Men's and Women's Earnings in Canada", with Ross Finnie and David Gray, Review of Income and Wealth, Series 56 (September 2010), pp. 572-596.

  • "Do Admission Categories and Economic Recessions Affect Immigrant Earnings?", with Michael G. Abbott, Institute for Research on Public Policy , Study No. 22 (November 2011), 40 pages

  • "Changing Income Inequality: A Distributional Paradigm for Canada” (Presidential Address), Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 49(4), November 2016, pp. 1229-1292.

Unrefereed Publications and Book Reviews
  • "A Human Capital Model of Educational Attainment with Differential Time Preference", in Essays in Labor Market Analysis, ed. by O.C. Ashenfelter and W.E. Oates (New York: Halsted Press, 1977), pp. 194-196.

  • "Who Will Pay for Proposed Public Pensions Reform", in Pensions Today and Tomorrow: Background Studied, ed. by Dr. W. Conklin, J.H. Bennett, and T.J. Courchene (Toronto: Ontario Economic Council, 1984), pp. 210-240.

  • "The 'Vanishing Middle Class'?: Evidence and Explanations", FOCUS. Bulletin published by the University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty, 1989).

  • "Polarization of Earnings in the Canadian Labour Market", with George A. Slotsve, in Bell Canada Papers, Vol. II on Stabilization, Growth and Distribution: Linkages in the Knowledge Era, ed. by T.J. Courchene, John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy (1994), pp. 299-347.

  • "Wage Changes and Job Changes of Canadian Men: Empirical Evidence", with M.G. Abbott and S.F. Kaliski, in Aspects of Canadian Labour Market: Essays in Honour of John Vanderkamp ed. by Louis N. Christofides, E. Kenneth Grant, and Robert Swidinsky (University of Toronto Press, 1995), pp. 3-42.

  • "Polarization and Social Reform: Evidence and Issues", with Keith Banting and Gordon Betcherman, Chapter 1, in Keith G. Banting and Charles M. Beach, eds., Labour Market Polarization and Social Policy Reform (School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, 1995), pp. 1-22; also "Comments" on papers by Rene Morissette, John Myles and Garnett Pico, pp. 51-58, and by Richard Chaykowski, pp. 119-122.

  • "The Distribution of Earnings and Income", with George A. Slotsve, Policy Options, Institute for Research on Public Policy, Vol. 17, No. 6 (Montreal, July/August 1996), pp. 42-45.

  • "The Impact of Employer Payroll Taxes on Employment and Wages: Evidence for Canada, 1970-1993", with Michael G. Abbott, in Transition and Structural Change in the North American Labour Market", ed. by Michael G. Abbott, Charles M. Beach, and Richard P. Chaykowski (IRC Press, 1997), pp.154-234.

  • "Cyclical Changes in Short-Run Earnings Mobility in Canada, 1982 to 1996", with Ross Finnie, in The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater, ed. by Patrick Grady and Andrew Sharpe (JDI, 2001), pp. 453-484.

  • "Earnings Over Time", with Ross Finnie and David Gray, in Perspectives, Statistics Canada Cat. No. 75-001-XPE (Winter 2002), pp. 41-42.

  • "How Has Earnings Mobility in Canada Changed?: Social Welfare Ranking of Transition Matrices", in Dimensions of Inequality in Canada, ed. by David Green and Jonathan Kesselman (UBC Press, 2006), pp. 102-126; volume awarded the Doug Purvis Prize for 2007 for "a highly significant written contribution to Canadian economic policy".

  • Presentation Statement by Professor Charles M. Beach before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions at its September 14, 2006, Hearings on "Employment-Based Permanent Immigration: Examining the Value of a Skill Based Point System" (September 2006), 20 pp.

  • "Rapporteurs' Reports from the SRI Workshop", with Peter Kuhn and W. Craig Riddell at website: http://strategies.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/ineas-aes.nsf/en/h_ra01877e.html (February 2007).

  • "Why Does Inequality Matter?", Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, published under "Growing Gap" (December 2007), pp. 13-15; and posted on the Globe and Mail website (April 26, 2008).

  • "Canada's Aging Workforce: Participation, Productivity and Living Standards", in Bank of Canada / Banque du Canada, A Festschrift in Honour of David Dodge's Contributions to Canadian Public Policy (Ottawa, Bank of Canada, 2009), pp. 197-218.

  • "Improving Canada's Immigration Policy", with Alan G. Green and Christopher Worswick, C.D. Howe Institute E-Brief (2009).

  • "Queen's New Grading System", with Jo-Anne Brady, Teaching and Learning at Queen's, Queen's Centre for Teaching and Learning (Winter 2010), pp. 10-11.

  • "Income Distribution and the Macroeconomy", Economic Journal, Vol. 98 (December 1988), pp. 1219-1220.

  • "Continuous Time Econometric Modelling", International Statistical Institute, Vol. 11 (April 1991), pp. 7.

  • "The Practise of Econometrics: Classic and Contemporary", Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 26 (August 1993), pp. 750-753.

  • "Small Differences That Matter: Labor Markets and Income Maintenance in Canada and the United States", Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 48 (October 1994), pp. 176-178.

  • "Handbook on Income Inequality Measurement", Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XXXIX (September 2001), pp. 912-914.

  • "The Economics of Rising Inequalities", Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 57 (April 2004), pp. 476-478.

  • "Social Policy: Reform, Research and Practice", Journal of Income Distribution, Vol. 11 (Fall 2002; Winter 2003), pp. 70-71.

  • "Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations: The Changing Role of Higher Education", The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 35, No. 3 (2006), pp. 129-133.

  • "Poverty and Income Distribution", Journal of Income Distribution, Vol. 19 (June 2010), pp. 124-126.
  • “Queen’s New Grading System”, with Jo-Anne Brady, Teaching and Learning at Queen’s, Queen’s Centre for Teaching and Learning, Winter 2010, pp. 10-11.

  • “Canada’s Hollowing-Out Inequality Rise in an I.T. World”, presentation statement before the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, May 2, 2012, 19 pp.

  • “The Right Trade-Offs Bring the Right Immigrants”, op-ed piece in The Globe and Mail, May 17, 2012, p. A21.

  • “When the Middle Class Meets Slower Growth”, in IRPP’s Policy Options, Vol. 34, March 2013, p. 20.

  • “Immigrant Earnings Mobility by Immigrant Admission Category in Canada”, with Michael G. Abbott, in Thinking Outside the Box: Innovation in Policy Ideas, a festschrift volume in honour of Thomas Courchene, ed. by K.G. Banting, R.P. Chaykowski, and S.F. Lehrer, MGill-Queen’s Press, 2015, pp. 365-410.

  • “Five Sets of Challenges for Skilled Immigration Policy: Lessons from Canada”, in Immigration Policy and the Global Competition for Talent, ed. by Gail Cohen, Agila Coulthurst, and Joe Alper, National Research Council of the National Academies, National Academies Press, Washington D.C., 2015, pp. 30-34.

  • “Long-form Census is Vital for Canada’s Economic Data”, with Russell Davidson and Thomas Lemieux, Globe and Mail Report on Business (February 7, 2015), p. B2. Full version appears as “The Census Long Form – A Critical Tool for Better Understanding and Policy” on the CEA website (February 9, 2015).

  • “What Has Happened to Middle-Class Earnings in Canada?”, in Income Inequality: The Canadian Story, ed. by David A. Green, W. Craig Riddell and France St-Hilaire, Institute for Research on Public Policy, 2016, pp. 157-175.
  • "Economics Outcomes of Immigrants in Canada", forthcoming in Taking Stock of a Turbulent Period and Looking Ahead: Immigration to North America in the Early Years of the 21st Century, ed. by Victoria M. Esses and Donald E. Abelson, McGill Queen's Press, 2016, pp. 89-117.