Study
| EST. READ TIME 1 MIN.Ontarians growing poorer compared to American neighbours; lags the regional GDP per person by $16,607
Measuring Ontario’s Regional Prosperity Gap
Summary
- By global standards, Ontario is a prosperous place. Ontarians enjoy living standards and access to opportunities that are the envy of much of the world.
- However, within its own economic region, Ontario is an economic laggard.
- This bulletin compares overall prosperity in Ontario (measured as Gross Domestic Product per person) to that of the eight American states in the Great Lakes region and its neighbouring province, Quebec. It also compares the economic growth rates of jurisdictions in the region in recent years.
- The study shows that Ontario has the second lowest GDP per person in the region, ahead only of Quebec. The region’s GDP per capita taken as a whole is 27.1 percent higher than Ontario’s.
- Over the past two decades, Ontario has fallen increasingly behind its regional neighbours. While real inflation-adjusted GDP has increased by 20 percent in the entire region since 2000, Ontario’s real per person economy has grown by just 13 percent.
- The large and growing prosperity gap between Ontario and its neighbours should concern Ontarians generally and policymakers specifically. Strong GDP growth contributes to job creation, wage growth, and other indicators of well-being.
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Ben Eisen
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
Ben Eisen is a Senior Fellow in Fiscal and Provincial Prosperity Studies and former Director of Provincial Prosperity Studies at theFraser Institute. He holds a BA from the University of Toronto and an MPP from the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance. Prior to joining the Fraser Institute Mr. Eisen was the Director of Research and Programmes at the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Halifax. He also worked for the Citizens Budget Commission in New York City, and in Winnipeg as the Assistant Research Director for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Mr. Eisen has published influential studies on several policy topics, including intergovernmental relations, public finance, and higher education policy. He has been widely quoted in major newspapers including the National Post, Chronicle Herald, Winnipeg Free Press and Calgary Herald.… Read more Read Less… -
Milagros Palacios
Director, Addington Centre for Measurement, Fraser InstituteMilagros Palacios is the Director for the Addington Centre for Measurement at the Fraser Institute. She holds a B.S. in IndustrialEngineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and a M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Concepcion, Chile. Ms. Palacios has studied public policy involving taxation, government finances, investment, productivity, labour markets, and charitable giving, for nearly 10 years. Since joining the Institute, Ms. Palacios has authored or coauthored over 70 comprehensive research studies, 70 commentaries and four books. Her recent commentaries have appeared in major Canadian newspapers such as the National Post, Toronto Sun, Windsor Star, and Vancouver Sun.… Read more Read Less…
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