I'm at the Rotman School of Management this morning to hear Dean Roger Martin's talk on the subject of Ontario's prosperity gap. What drives it? Why does intensity vary between Canada and the US? The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity today released its report: "Time on the job: Intensity and Ontario's prosperity gap."

The topic may be somewhat dry compared to our usual discussions on Web 2.0 and venture capital but the topic may give our readers some insight into why Canada's VC community is underperforming. I'll be back with an update shortly.

Update 1: Why over the last generation has Ontario underperformed the North American mean in terms of prosperity? That is the driving question behind Martin's work. Our prosperity gap compared to the mean is about $6,000 or 12.6% of median GDP per capita. In real terms for consumers out there, this gap means we have $5,100 less disposable income.

The big difference between the US and Ontario workers isn't with the poor who tend to have only two weeks off a year in both countries. The difference lies with the wealthy who, in the US, take almost 3 weeks off but in Ontario they take 7 weeks off. Union leaders have always known about this (my aside).

Martin, by the way, says never believe anything you read in newspapers or see on T.V. about economics statistics - NEVER!! Why? Because reporters don't have the time to get it right. He says, for example, fewer people are working part-time today in the US than in the past. So much for common sense.

Update 2: The value of an advanced degree in the US is far better than in Ontario. In other words, earnings for holders of advanced degrees in the US are about 25% higher than in Ontario.

It turns out that Ontario workers are just as willing to work as their US counterparts. Is the difference in hours worked attributable to the different tax rate in Canada? No, says Martin. He shows us with stats that taxes don't make a difference in motivation to workers but it does influence employers.

Did you know Canada has the highest corporate taxes in the industrialized world? I didn't. That may be the cause.

(As an aside, whenever I come to Rotman and hear Martin speak I leave with the impression that he has some profound insights into Canada's economy. His research into the value of design in the 21st Century economy are sublime.)

Update 3: Finally, Martin says things get attenuated in Ontario. There is attenuation at the highest level of education here. More importantly, there is attenuation in the work effort with the people who matter most.

Panelists: Arthur Donner, Arthur Donner Consultants will provide the first set of remarks followed by Sebastien LaRochelle-Cote, and Eleana Rodriguez.

Donner has some issues with the report saying that he thinks Canadians working less is a positive side-effect of our system. He wants to find a better balance between work and family. Social indices in Canada are better than those in the US and we cannot forget that.

Martin offers some stats on part-time work. One generation ago the numbers were 11.5% compared to today's 11.2%. This is counter to the media-driven impression that the US is becoming a part-time society.

While the report provides new insight into the quantitative differences between Canadian and US working hours and the prosperity that results from that difference, it does not recognize some benefits of the Canadian system. My experience is that we all know people who work hard but not necessarily effectively. Like any good research, the report can stimulate discussion around why, for example, the Canadian venture capital industry underperforms the US. Is it partially a result of this intensity gap? Can we extrapolate that Canadian start-ups less committed time wise? We will follow this discussion.