Daniel Hiebert

In this paper we advocate the study of local street markets to explore fundamental issues about the relationship between economy and society. This relationship evolves over time and we believe that it has been recast in an age of increasing cultural diversity and neo-liberal state regulatory structures. In street markets we can see how diversity and the nature of economic transactions become mutually constitutive. We argue that cultural diversity propels local markets, while everyday interactions in markets influence intercultural relationships. These complex processes are affected by the spatiality of markets and the regulatory environments within which they operate. We conclude by framing a research programme on street markets and discuss a number of methodological complications that would need to be addressed in this endeavour.

The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) is used to investigate the participation of immigrants in Canada's housing market during the first four years of the settlement process, beginning in 2000–2001. The analysis focuses on the changing rate of homeownership, crowding and affordability. Special attention is given to differences between landing classes and population groups (especially visible minority groups). In general, the housing situation of LSIC survey respondents improved remarkably over the years covered by the survey. This is registered in a much higher rate of homeownership in the third wave of the survey (at four years after landing) compared with the first (six months after landing). Similarly, the ratio of survey respondents spending more than 30 percent of their total family income on housing dropped dramatically, as did the percentage living in crowded conditions. In other words, at least according to the measures explored here, LSIC suggests that the proportion of immigrants in precarious housing situations drops significantly in the early settlement period. This positive outcome is not universally shared, however, and certain groups—notably refugees, and immigrants of black and MiddleEastern background—see much less improvement in their circumstances than the average survey respondent.