Chart 6: Trend in income distribution across North American countries Income share held by highest 10% over income share held by lowest 10%, annual, 1991 (1992 for Mexico), 2000, 2010  35 30 25  1991 (for Mexico 1992) 2000 2010  20 15 10 5 0 Canada  United States  Mexico Last observation: 2010  Sources: World Bank, Haver Analytics and Bank of Canada calculations  Shifts in income distribution could have implications for the standard open-economy models that policy-makers rely on.
Since they may have less access to credit, lowincome groups are more likely to be credit constrained and therefore less likely to be influenced by intertemporal substitution than high-income groups. Meanwhile, highincome groups tend to make their spending plans independently of the level of interest rates.