There are more billionaires than ever in Canada – and they are capturing an ever-growing share of the country’s wealth. Meanwhile 90% of Canadians are steadily losing ground.

Understanding how and why this is happening has been the focus of a lifetime of research by economist LARS OSBERG. In this book, building on his earlier book The Age of Increasing Inequality, he describes how inequality has grown steadily over decades – but is now accelerating in the post-Covid world.

The Trudeau government came to power promising action to make the rich pay a fairer share, and to reduce inequality. In office, they did virtually nothing and Canada’s rich are richer than ever.

Other countries are finding effective ways to tackle inequality. International organizations are proposing innovative measures to prevent the wealthy from using tax havens, and to impose new taxes capturing wealth from billionaires and globe-spanning tax-avoiding multinationals like Apple and Microsoft. LARS OSBERG identifies measures that Canada can take so that the country’s wealth is shared more fairly, and the wealth of billionaires can be used to improve the lives of Canada’s 99%.

LARS OSBERG is a Professor of Economics at Dalhousie University with research interests in labour economics and income and wealth distribution. He received his PhD in Economics from Yale University and has published numerous articles in academic journals and seven books, including Lorimer's Unnecessary Debts, co-edited with Pierre Fortin. He is a past President of the Canadian Economics Association.

Lars Osberg's profile page

"In the long list of social and economic issues facing Canadians, income and wealth inequality should always be prominent. Lars Osberg’s enduring attention to this issue, and the insights and expertise he lends to the task, deserve a wide audience in this turbulent era of climate change, pandemic, and unbalanced economic growth. Understanding the general discontent among Canadians facing inflation and an affordability challenge depends on it. Osberg provides the background and current status of income inequality as well as some thoughtful suggestions to arrest or even reverse the trend toward greater inequality in our times."

Wayne Simpson, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Manitoba

“Most economists once believed inequality was inevitable. But for decades, Lars Osberg has argued convincingly they were wrong. Then the COVID pandemic, when government policies amazingly reduced poverty despite a health and economic emergency, showed he was absolutely right. Inequality is not inevitable, it’s a social choice. This immensely readable book crystalizes Osberg’s vast wisdom about what causes inequality, how to reverse it, and why our economy will be much stronger when we do.”

Jim Stanford, Director, Centre for Future Work, Sydney Australia and Founder of the Progressive Economics Forum

"Lars Osberg eloquently reminds us that inequality persists in Canada no matter now we measure it. In the absence of collective action, it is likely to increase further in the coming years owing to the joint influences of AI, global warming, and the concentration of the returns to technological innovation. The reduction in inequality during the pandemic turned out to be a temporary blip, though it did illustrate that where government has the will, it can act quickly and decisively to address it. The government at least recognizes the problem. Its 2018 poverty reduction strategy both formally adopted the market-basket-measure as an indicator of poverty and committed the federal government to reducing the poverty rate by 50 percent by 2030. As Osberg forcefully argues, inequality both deprives much of the population from sharing in the benefits of GDP growth and empowers the wealthy to control the political agenda that resists addressing inequality. Like Lars’ previous books on inequality, this one relies heavily on published data to make the case. It is a very readable account of the multi-dimensional problem of inequality and what should be done to address it. It should be read by scholars, policy makers and interested citizens."

Robin Boadway, Professor Emeritus, Queen's University

"This new edition of Lars Osberg’s influential work highlights why economic inequality in Canada is scandalous. It features new data and fresh content in every chapter, presented in an engaging and accessible style. Osberg points out that Canada’s COVID relief efforts showed we can significantly and swiftly reduce inequality, making our current lack of action especially shocking. He also discusses how artificial intelligence could dramatically alter the global economy, particularly by affecting jobs that rely heavily on cognitive tasks -- likely, most of the jobs that readers of this book are doing. Here, too, inaction is scandalous. New insights on wealth distribution emphasize the important difference between net worth inequality and the inequality of corporate power. Additionally, Osberg reminds us that conventional earnings research often overlooks the massive impact of inherited wealth. The key takeaway is that high and rising inequality undermines social cohesion -- cohesion that is essential if we are to effectively address major collective challenges like pandemics and climate change. Read this book and send another copy to your Member of Parliament!"

Lorne Tepperman, co-author of The Stacked Deck: An Introduction to Social Inequality (third edition, Oxford University Press, in production)

"Lars Osberg has once again set the standard for understanding inequality in Canada. His book provides both a detailed map of the extent of inequality and incisive discussions of policy options to respond to it. Most importantly, the book includes compelling new evidence on the extent of wealth inequality and its relationship to true equality of opportunity in Canada. Everyone interested in inequality in the Canadian context should have this book on their shelf."

David Green, Professor, Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia and Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK.