Median income stagnation and gains at the top - an international phenomenon

Tyler Cowen has written a great E book on the 'Great Stagnation' that's getting a lot of press.  He points out that Canada - supposedly so 'egalitarian' and social democratic has experienced the same median wage stagnation and increased inequality as the US.  Different policy mix, same outcomes tells us that the changes that we have been experiencing are structural and technological rather than ideological.  Although because the US is more technologically and economically advanced, they tend to happen  here first.

The median earnings of full-time Canadian workers increased by just $53 annually -- that's right, $53 annually -- between 1980 and 2005.

Here is more, or here.  This is one reason why I do not adhere to some of the progressive or "class struggle" explanations of relative stagnation in median income growth.  Canada is not ruled by the so-called Republican Right.

There is another reason I don't buy the redistributive theory: here is a chart on The Great Stagnation of Capital.

The "class struggle" hypothesis makes at least some sense for 2001-2004, when measured productivity is high but the gains do not accure to the median.  It does not make sense for the last forty years as a whole, or for the international evidence across countries.

Hat Tip Marginal Revolution