The Award

The winners of the 2009 Doug Purvis Memorial Prize are Michael Baker (University of Toronto and National Bureau of Economic Research), Jonathan Gruber (MIT and National Bureau of Economic Research), and Kevin Milligan (University of British Columbia) for their article “Universal Child Care, Maternal Labor Supply, and Family Well Being”. The article was published in the Journal of Political Economy in 2008 (vol.116, no. 41). This paper provides a state of the art analytical approach to an important economic policy debate. It evaluates Quebec’s $7/day daycare program to draw inferences about the program’s impact on daycare use in the province, on labour supply and on the well-being of children and parents. This program is considered a ‘model’ for other jurisdictions. The study looked for negatives as well as positives, to illustrate possible tradeoffs. The results, that labour supply or participation increases but that well-being may suffer somewhat, are novel, even somewhat surprising and well communicated. This study is a serious contribution about a major policy issue and utilizes a Canadian data set in interesting ways. The novelty of the analysis, approach and results are likely to raise some controversy, however this should provide incentives for further analyses and in so doing enlighten the development of future economic policy with respect to daycare in Canada.

Each year, the winner of the Foundation’s major prize has this “trophy” to keep for the year as a tribute to their accomplishment. The sculpture is of a grizzly bear, a wonderful production of Nuna Parr, a resident of Cape Dorsett in the North West Territories. This talented and prolific young artist has earned an international reputation with exhibitions across Canada and in Europe.

As Doug had always wanted just such a piece for his own collection, it is a most appropriate tribute to the memory of our great friend and colleague.All of those who knew this special man and have seen the trophy, get the same remarkable sense that our bear has taken on the aura of Doug’s own personality.

The Foundation is deeply grateful to those close friends and family members who donated this exceptional work that is now the perpetual symbol of the Doug Purvis Award for Canadian Economics.

The major purpose of the Foundation is to oversee the awarding of a $10,000 annual prize for a highly significant, written contribution to some issue related to Canadian economic policy in the previous year. The award is open to all forms of written media in which material relevant to Canadian economic policy appears, including a series of articles in newspapers or magazines, books, single articles in scholarly journals, government studies including monographs done for royal commissions, other official documents, and think-tank reports. To be eligible, the material must be in the public domain and primarily, but not necessarily exclusively related to some issue in Canadian economic policy. It is judged in terms of its originality, its potential policy impact, its value in terms of educating the public on the issue, and its writing style. The award is usually given for material which appeared in the previous calendar year, but under exceptional circumstances, it can be given for material which has appeared earlier, but which is now seen to be a contribution of particular significance.

The winner of the prize is chosen by the Selection Committee, the members of which are appointed jointly by the Canadian Economics Association (CEA) and the Canadian Association of Business Economists (CABE). Each association will appoint a new committee member each year and will alternate on the selection of the Committee Chairman. The Selection Committee will consist of five senior experts in the area of economic policy drawn from academia, business and government. Each member is appointed for a two-year term and serves without compensation other than expenses. The prize will normally be awarded to one written work, although that work may have multiple co-authors. In exceptional cases, it may be shared between two distinct works.

The upcoming award is announced in the major national newspapers and policy journals in the Fall of each year. People can nominate their own work, or that of others for consideration. The Committee of judges will also make its own survey of the relevant literature. The Committee will make its decision in the spring of the following year and announce the winning recipient(s) in May.

The award is presented at the Doug Purvis Memorial Luncheon held at the annual meetings of the Canadian Economic Association.