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 (...read more...)