Lars Osberg (PhD. Yale) has been a member of the Economics Department at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) since 1977. He also worked for a brief period at the University of Western Ontario. He is well known internationally for his contributions in the field of economics. His major research interests are the measurement and determinants of inequality, social exclusion and poverty, measurement of economic well-being, leisure co-ordination and economic well-being, time use and economic development, economic insecurity.
Books
Not Fair: Inequality of Opportunity in Canada University of Toronto Press, 2025, 257 pages
The Scandalous Rise of Inequality in Canada James Lorimer Publishers, Toronto, 2024, 286 pages
The Age of Increasing Inequality James Lorimer Publishers, Toronto – 2018 The Economic Implications of Social Cohesion (edited) University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2003, 249 pages Principles of Microeconomics: Fourth Edition – 2012 McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto - joint with Frank/Bernanke/Cross/MacLean Principles of Macroeconomics: Fourth Edition – 2012 McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto - joint with Frank/Bernanke/Cross/MacLean Hard Money, Hard Times (edited with P. Fortin) James Lorimer Publishers, Toronto, Ontario, 1998, 202 pages. The Unemployment Crisis: All for Naught (edited with B. MacLean) McGill/Queen's University Press (1996) 251 pages. Unnecessary Debts, (edited with P. Fortin), (ed.), James Lorimer Publishers, Toronto, Ontario, 1996, 200 pages. Vanishing Jobs: Canada's Changing Workplaces (with F. Wien and J. Grude), James Lorimer Publishers, Toronto, Ontario (1995) 215 pages. A Social Charter for Canada (edited with S. Phipps) C.D. Howe Institute, Toronto, Ontario, February (1992). Economic Inequality and Poverty: International Perspectives (editor) M.E. Sharpe Ltd. Armonk, New York (1991), 257 pages. The Information Economy: the Implications of Unbalanced Growth (with W. Baumol & E.N. Wolff) Institute for Research on Public Policy (1989), 114 pages. Economic Inequality in the United States, M.E. Sharpe Ltd., Armonk, New York (1984), 288 pages. Economic Inequality in Canada, Butterworth Publishing Co., Toronto, Ontario (1981), 236 pages.
Refereed journal articles
"Prevalence, Frequency and Persistence of Being Bullied for Canadian Adolescents: A Longitudinal Analysis" with Lihui Zhang and Shelley Phipps revise and resubmit Social Science Journal
"Measuring Economic Insecurity in Rich and Poor Nations" (with Andrew Sharpe) Review of Income and Wealth Vol. 60, pp. S53-S76, May, 2014 "Instability Implications of Increasing Inequality: Evidence from North America" Economic Modelling Volume 35, September 2013, Pages 918–930 "Demand or Supply for Schooling in Rural India?" (with Sripad Motiram) International Journal of Time Use Research volume 9 number 1 November 2012 "Gender Inequalities in Tasks and Instruction Opportunities within Indian Families" with Sripad Motiram Feminist Economics – Vol. 16(3), July 2010, 141–167 "Social Capital and Basic Goods: The Cautionary Tale of Drinking Water in India" with Sripad Motiram –, Economic Development and Cultural Change October 2010, Vol. 59, No. 1: pp. 63–94 "Keeping in Touch: A Benefit of Public Holidays" with Joachim Merz, International Journal of Time Use Research September 2009, vol. 6 no. 1, pp. 130–66. "The Growth of Poor Children in China 1991-2000: Why Food Subsidies May Matter" with Jiaping Shao and Kuan Xu, Health Economics, April 2009; Vol. 18 Suppl 1:S89-108. "How Should We Measure Poverty in a Changing World? Methodological Issues and Chinese Case Study" (with Kuan Xu) Review of Development Economics, 12(2), 419-441, 2008. "'Fair' Inequality? Attitudes to Pay Differentials: The United States in Comparative Perspective" (with Tim Smeeding) American Sociological Review, Vol. 71 (450-473) June 2006. "The Double-Edged Sword of Trade" (with Teresa Cyrus and Lynn Lethbridge) Eastern Economic Journal, Vol. 33, No. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 277–293. "Pulling Apart–The Growing Gulfs in Canadian Society" Policy Options, April–May 2006. "Poverty and the Extent of Child Obesity in Canada, Norway and the United States" (with Shelley A. Phipps, Peter S. Burton, and Lynn N. Lethbridge) Obesity Reviews, January 2006, Vol. 7, pp. 5–12. "Work and Well-being in an Aging Society" Canadian Public Policy 31(4) December 2005, p. 413-420. "Poverty and the Extent of Child Obesity in Canada, Norway and the United States" (with Shelley A. Phipps, Peter S Burton and Lynn N. Lethbridge), Obesity Reviews 2006 (7), p. 5-12. "Sampling variability: some observations from a labour supply equation" (with Daniel Gordon and Shelley Phipps), Applied Economics, 2005, 37, 2167-2175. "How should we measure the ‘Economic’ Aspects of Well-Being?" (with Andrew Sharpe), The Review of Income and Wealth Series 51, Number 2, June 2005 Pp. 311-336. "Measuring Obesity in Young Children" (with Shelley Phipps, Peter Burton and Lynn Lethbridge), Canadian Public Policy Vol. XXX, No. 4, December 2004, Pp. 1–16. "Evaluer l’Indice du bien-etre economique dans les pays de l’OCDE" Travail et Emploi, Janvier 2003 No. 93, Pp. 73–94 "Understanding Growth and Inequality Trends: The Role of Labour Supply in the US and Germany" Canadian Public Policy Vol. XXIX, Supplement January 2003, Pp. S163-S184 "Long Run Trends in Income Inequality in the US, UK, Sweden, Germany and Canada - A Birth Cohort View" Eastern Economic Journal Vol. 29, No. 1, Winter 2003, Pp. 121–142 "An Index of Economic Well-being" (with Andrew Sharpe) Indicators: The Journal of Social Health. Spring 2002, Vol. 1 No. 2, Pp. 24–62 "International Comparisons of Trends in Economic Well-Being" (with Andrew Sharpe) Social Indicators Research Vol. 58, Nos 1-3, June 2002, Pp. 349–382 "An Index of Economic Well-Being for Selected OECD Countries" (with Andrew Sharpe) The Review of Income and Wealth, Series 48, Number 3, September 2002 Pp. 291–316 "The Social Welfare Implications, Decomposability and Geometry of the Sen Family of Poverty Indices" (with Kuan Xu), Canadian Journal of Economics Volume 35, Number 1 (February 2002) Pages 138-152
"Needs and Wants: What is Social Progress and How Should it be Measured?" The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress, Institute for Research on Public Policy and the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, June 2001, Pages 23–42 "Trends in Economic Well-Being in Canada in the 1990s" (with Andrew Sharpe) The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress, Institute for Research on Public Policy and the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, June 2001, Pages 233-246 "On Sen’s Approach to Poverty Measures and Recent Developments" (with Kuan Xu) China Economic Quarterly (published in Chinese) Vol. 1, No. 1, October 2001, pages 151-170.
"Poverty in Canada and the US : Measurement, Trends and Implications" Canadian Journal of Economics Vol.33, No.4, November 2000 pp. 847–877 "How Much of Canada ’s Unemployment is "Structural"?" (with Z. Lin) Canadian Public Policy Vol. XXV No. 1, July 2000, pp. S141- S158 "International Comparisons of Poverty Intensity: Index Decomposition and Bootstrap Inference", (with Kuan Xu), Journal of Human Resources, Volume 35, Number 1, Winter 2000, pp. 51–81; errata corrected Volume 35, Number 3, Summer 2000 "Poverty Intensity - How Well Do Canadian Provinces Compare?" (with Kuan Xu), Canadian Public Policy, Vol. XXV, No. 2, June 1999, pp. 179–198. "A Distribution-Free Test for Deprivation Dominance" (with Kuan Xu) Econometric Reviews, Vol. 17, No. 4, 1998, pp. 415–431. "A Note on the link between Inflation and Output Variability in Canada" (with T. Iscan) Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 30, No. 2, May 1998, pp. 261–272. "How to Value the Poorer Prospects of Youth in the early 1990s?" (with Sadettin Erksoy and Shelley Phipps) Review of Income and Wealth, Series 44, No.1, March 1998, pp. 43–62 "Economic Growth, Income Distribution and Economic Welfare in Canada 1975-1994" North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1997, pp. 153–166. "The Great Pyramids of Canada", Scientific Correspondence, Nature, p. 510, Vol. 384, December 12, 1996 . "The Equity/Efficiency Tradeoff in Retrospect" Canadian Business Economics, Vol. 3, No. 3, April–June Spring 1995, pp. 5–20. "Concepts of Unemployment and the Structure of Employment" Economie Appliquée, Vol. XLVIII, No. 1, 1995, pp. 157–181. "Predicting Probabilities: Inherent and Sampling Variability in the Estimation of Discrete-Choice Models" with D. Gordon, Z. Lin, and S. Phipps, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 56, No. 1, February 1994, pp. 13–31. "Inter-Regional Migration and Inter-Industry Labour Mobility in Canada: A Simultaneous Approach" (with D. Gordon and Z. Lin) Canadian Journal of Economics, February 1994, Vol. XXVII, No. 1, pp. 58–80. "Social Policy and Macro Policy in a Federal State" Canadian Business Economics Vol. 2, No. 1, Fall 1993, pp. 36–45. "Labour Supply with Quantity Constraints: Results from a Large Sample of Canadian Workers" (with S. Phipps) Oxford Economic Papers, Volume 45, April 1993, pp. 269–291. "Fishing in Different Pools - Job Search Strategies and Job-Finding Success in Canada in the Early 1980s" Journal of Labour Economics, Volume 11, No. 2, April 1993, pp. 348–386. "Is it Retirement or Unemployment? Induced retirement and constrained labour supply among older workers" Applied Economics (1993), Vol. 25, pp. 505–519. "Searching for a Will O'the Wisp: an empirical study of the NAIRU in Canada" (with M. Setterfield and D. Gordon), European Economic Review, Vol. 36, January 1992, pp. 119–136. "Unemployment and Inter-industry labour mobility in Canada in the 1980s" Applied Economics, Vol. 23, No. 11, November 1991, pp. 1707–1718. "A Distinct Canada", Policy Options Politiques, Vol. 11, No. 4, May 1990. "The 'Disappearance' of Involuntary Unemployment" Journal of Economic Issues, September 1988. Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 707–728. "The Inequality of Wealth in Britain's North American Colonies: The Importance of the Relatively Poor"—with F.K. Siddiq, Review of Income and Wealth, Series 34 No. 2, pp. 143–164, June 1988. "Segmented Labour Markets and the Estimation of Wages Functions" Applied Economics, with R. Apostle & D. Clairmont, Vol. 19, No. 12, December 1987, pp. 1603–1624. "Job Mobility, Wage Determination and Market Segmentation in the Presence of Sample Selectivity Bias" with L. Mazany, R. Apostle and D. Clairmont, Canadian Journal of Economics, May 1986, Vol. XIX, No. 2, pp. 319–346. "The Incidence and Duration of Individual Unemployment: Supply-Side or Demand Side?" with R. Apostle and D. Clairmont, Cambridge Journal of Economics, March 1986, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 13–34. "Economic Segmentation and Politics" R. Apostle, D. Clairmont & L. Osberg, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 91, No. 4, January 1986, pp. 905–931. "A Nation of Data Processors–Most Canadian Workers Produce Not Goods but Information", Perception, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1985, pp. 23–24. "Segmentation and Labour Force Strategies" R. Apostle, D. Clairmont & L. Osberg, Canadian Journal of Sociology, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1985, pp. 253–275. "Segmentation and Wage Determination" R. Apostle, D. Clairmont & L. Osberg, Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 22, pp. 30–56, 1985. "A Note on the Incomes of Lawyers" Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, Vol. 40, No. 4., 1985, pp. 865–879. "Star Spangled Economics", Marxism Today, Vol. 28, No. 9, September 1984, pp. 30–33. "Unemployment Insurance: Insurance or Welfare: Reply" Canadian Public Policy Vol. V, No. 4, Fall 1979, pp. 559–560. "Unemployment Insurance in Canada: A Review of the Recent Amendments" Canadian Public Policy, Vol. V, No. 2, Spring, 1979, pp. 223–235.