Thread by @opinion

The American Dream has moved to Canada bloom.bg/32hXDNL

Defenders of rough, tough American capitalism have always pointed to the fact that even with the less-equal income distribution, most Americans continue to have higher incomes than their peers in other countries.

Not any more bloom.bg/32hXDNL

🇨🇦As of 2016, Canada pulled ahead of the U.S. in median household income.

Up through the 56th income percentile, Canadians are better off than their U.S. counterparts bloom.bg/32hXDNL

A closer look reveals that U.S. residents at the top of the income distribution make a lot more than Canadians at the top.

But Canadians at the bottom and in the middle have the advantage bloom.bg/32hXDNL

The median household income winner is dependent on how you convert Canadian dollars into U.S. dollars:

➡️Canadian statistical agency formula: 🇨🇦$59,438 🇺🇸$58,849
➡️Average 2016 exchange rate: 🇨🇦$53,336 🇺🇸$58,849 bloom.bg/32hXDNL

But economic well-being is not all about the money.

Canadians also receive more benefits from their governments, for example, free health care bloom.bg/32hXDNL

Others have been gaining on the U.S. too. Between 1980-2018, per capita GDP grew 1.5% annually in:

🇺🇸U.S.
🇪🇺EU
🌍OECD (a group of 36 democracies)

U.S. growth has been concentrated at the very top, so Americans in the middle & bottom have lost ground bloom.bg/32hXDNL

As of the mid-1980s, only those in the bottom 20% of the income distribution in Canada were better off than their equivalents in the U.S.

By 2010, those in the fourth decile in the U.S. fell behind:

🇳🇴Norway
🇩🇰Denmark
🇳🇱The Netherlands
🇨🇦Canada bloom.bg/32hXDNL