Assessing Performance

This chapter asks whether standard theories of differences between Canada and the United States (U.S.) can explain disparities in critical social and political outcomes in the two countries. On six measures of system performance (homicides, infant mortality, poverty, economic inequality, voter turnout, and women legislators) Canada consistently delivers far better outcomes than the U.S., but examination of subnational variation reveals a more complex pattern. Most indicators differ more among U.S. states than among Canadian provinces. Within the U.S., outcomes in the northern tier of states usually resemble those in neighboring Canada more closely than they do the rest of the U.S., especially the South, which performs worst by every measure. Standard institutional and cultural theories of differences between the countries cannot explain regional variation within the U.S. nor the similarity of Northern Border states to Canada. Although obvious differences between Canadian and U.S. political institutions help account for greater homogeneity among provinces, explaining the overall pattern may require invoking such causes as climate, ethnic diversity, size of political units, and subnational political cultures.