Chris Worswick shortlisted for prestigious Donner Prize

Christopher Worswick, Professor in the Department of Economics, co-authored the book :Toward Improving Canada’s Skilled Immigration Policy: An Evaluation Approach” that has been shortlisted for the prestigious Donner Prize. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in Toronto on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.

The Donner Prize annually rewards excellence and innovation in public policy writing by Canadians. In bestowing this award, the Donner Canadian Foundation seeks to broaden policy debates, increase general awareness of the importance of policy decision making, and make an original and meaningful contribution to policy discourse.

Toward Improving Canada’s Skilled Immigration Policy: An Evaluation Approach – Charles M. Beach, Alan G. Green and Christopher Worswick / C.D. Howe Institute (2011) take an analytical look at Canada’s approach to immigration that has faced major challenges in recent years and requires reform if Canada is to meet the international competition for skilled immigrants. In the book, the authors assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current point system used to screen new arrivals.

They go further to identify the policy levers that affect the attributes and success rates of new arrivals, and break new ground by providing a tool to measure those impacts. The gap between earnings of recent immigrants in Canada and their Canadian-born contemporaries has been growing, and the time it takes to close the gap has been lengthening. The authors provide a panoramic view of shifts in Canada’s skilled-immigration policies and the strengths and weaknesses of the points system.

The authors’ policy recommendations make essential reading for all who care about the tough questions of immigration policy.

Christopher Worswick is Professor of Economics at Carleton University.; Charles M. Beach is Professor of Economics at Queen’s University; Alan G. Green was Professor Emeritus of Economics at Queen’s University; he passed away on November 3, 2010.