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Armine Yalnizyan

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Armine Yalnizyan
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanada
Academic career
InstitutionAtkinson Foundation
Alma materGlendon College
Université de Bordeaux
University of Toronto
Websiteatkinsonfoundation.ca/atkinson-fellows/atkinson-fellow-on-the-future-of-workers/

Armine Yalnizyan is a Canadian economist and columnist. In 2012, the CBC described her as one of Canada's "leading progressive economists".[1] She was a senior economist with the progressive Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives from 2008 to 2017.[2] [3] She appeared regularly on CBC TV's Lang and O'Leary Exchange, CBC Radio's Metro Morning, and contributed regularly to the "Economy Lab" at the Globe and Mail. She is currently a fellow with the Atkinson Foundation focused on the future of workers in a period of technological and demographic change. Her work focuses on "social and economic factors that determine our health and well being", and the care economy.[4] She contributes bi-weekly business columns to the Toronto Star.

Early years and education

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Yalnizyan was born in Canada. Her parents were Armenian immigrants. Her grandfathers were killed in the Armenian genocide (1914–1923).[5] She grew up in Toronto.[1]

She completed a bilingual honours degree in economics from Glendon College, a York University federated campus in Toronto, Ontario, including a year of economics[6] at Université de Bordeaux, France. She received a master's degree in Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto in 1985, in labour market policy.[1][5][7]

Career

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Yalnizyan began her focus on labour market dynamics as a graduate student, when she was asked to be research assistant to Sylvia Ostry in 1983, who had just returned from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, after five years as their chief economist. Ostry was researching the impacts of technological change and globalization on labour markets, and was one of the few mainstream economists at that time that paid attention to gender dynamics. These were and remain prescient themes for economic research.

One of Yalnizyan's first permanent jobs as an economist was in the 1980s with the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto. At that time the economy was struggling with the impact of the 1981–82 recession, and many full-time jobs were being lost. The Council had already documented the de-industrialization of Toronto, and many residents faced inadequate training and income supports given limited job opportunities. This worsened after 1990, as jobless benefits were cut in four rounds of reforms by consecutive Conservative and Liberal federal governments. Yalnizyan documented trends in full- and part-time job opportunities, working hours, incomes and labour adjustment policies, often adding a gendered analysis. She also tracked changes in fiscal policy (public spending cuts and tax cuts). Yalnizyan was a program director from 1987 to 1997, and returned to be the Council as Director of Research in 2006 and 2007.[8]

In 1998, while working as lead researcher at the Toronto-based Centre for Social Justice, she completed an in-depth 148-page report as part of the Growing Gap Project, entitled "The Growing Gap: Growing Inequality between Rich and Poor in Canada."[9][Notes 1] The Growing Gap Project, which was funded by Atkinson Charitable Foundation[9]: v  the SJC's first major project, documented the increasing income and wealth gap, the moderating role of government and potential public policy alternatives.[9]: i 

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

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Main article: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Yalnizyan began her association with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in 1993, while still at the Social Planning Council.[6] By 1994, when the centre began to publish their Alternative Federal Budget, she was a research associate.[8]

In 2008 she joined CCPA as Senior Economist to help develop and advance the Inequality Project.[1][8] She remained with CCPA until 2017.[4] She was a regular contributor to CCPA's Behind the numbers.[10]

After leaving the CCPA, Yalnizyan worked with the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy, the Mowat Centre and Policy Horizons.

Atkinson Foundation

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On May 13, 2018 the Atkinson Foundation announced that Yalnizyan accepted a two-year fellowship—Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers— for collaborative research on "policy innovation for inclusive economic growth in an era of rapid technological change".[15]

In June 2018 Yalnizyan was asked to be economic policy advisor to Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada Louise Levonian,[16] where she provided assistance with GBA+ (gender based analysis) and helped in the foresight and stress-testing process critical to ensuring income and labour adjustment programs that work well under different job market scenarios.

When this appointment ended, she resumed the fellowship offered by the Atkinson Foundation, in November 2019. She continues to work on "policy responses to the changing nature of work", but the unique labour market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic added a new element of urgency to this work: ensuring the she-cession (a term Yalnizyan coined in March 2020[17]) turned into a she-covery. In 2020, Yalnizyan was asked to contribute to a high-level federal task force on women in the economy. Yalnizyan's work has increased attention on the care economy as necessary social infrastructure.[11]


Media

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Toronto Star

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After years of being requested to write opinion pieces for the Toronto Star, the Star asked Yalnizyan in 2021 to become a regular contributor. She has written bi-weekly columns for the business section since September 2021.

Globe and Mail

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In 2010, Yalnizyan was invited to join a new Globe and Mail feature, the "Economy Lab",[6] which had Canadian economists write about economic issues in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008–09.[12] [6][13][14] She contributed regularly to the Economy Lab from 2010 to 2014, and continued to contribute on an occasional basis after 2014.

Metro Morning with Matt Galloway

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In 2012 she became a regular bi-weekly business commentator on the CBC's number one morning show Metro Morning at CBLA-FM in Toronto[15] with Matt Galloway[1][Notes 2] which reaches a "million listeners in the Greater Toronto Area."[6]

Lang and O'Leary Exchange

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Main article: The Exchange (TV series)

From the fall of 2011 to the last episode of the show at the end of June 2018, Yalnizyan was a weekly guest on the "Big Picture Panel", the longest running continuous feature of CBC-TV's Lang and O'Leary Exchange with Amanda Lang and Kevin O'Leary.[6][16]

Board memberships

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Yalnizyan was Chair of the Employment and Economics Committee of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women in 1989 and 1990, and served on that board until 1995. She served on the board of the Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) from 2001 to 2016. She was an Advisory Board member for the Canadian Institutes for Health Research's Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR/IPPH) from 2009 to 2016.[17] Yalnizyan is a Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto. She was President of Canadian Association for Business Economics[18] from 2017-2019, Vice President from 2013-2017, and has served on the board since 2005.

Awards

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Yalnizyan was honoured with the first Atkinson Economic Justice Award in 2002[19] and the University of Toronto's Morley Gunderson Prize in 2003.[8] She received the Ontario Public Health Association Award of Excellence in 2011, and the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association's Champion of Human Service Award in 2012. She became a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

In 2022 Maclean's listed Yalnizyan in its "Power List: 50 Canadians who are forging paths, leading the debate and shaping how we think and live".[20] She was described as "the caring person's economist: a big-picture thinker who looks out for the little guy."[21]

In 2023 Yalnizyan was awarded the Ellen Meiskins Wood Prize. In 2023 Yalnizyan was also awarded the Galbraith Prize in Economics.

Themes

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By 2010, Yalnizyan had "tracked trends in labour markets, income distribution, government budgets and access to services (particularly training and health care) for over 20 years."[8] Her focus has been on "social and economic factors that determine our health and well being",[4] including affordable housing in Canada[22] [23] poverty in Canada, minimum wage,[24] and basic services.[25] In her 2017 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives article on redistribution, Yalnizyan wrote that basic income models were market-based and focused on increasing money to access market freedom and choice. Yalnizyan stressed the health-based basic service approach through which more public services are provided that "are not contingent on income." This would provide "more freedom from the market".[25] She cites as examples, "care provided by publicly insured doctors and hospitals and taxpayer-funded public schools dramatically reduce poverty and inequality."[25] Yalnizyan's most recent work places focus on the care economy and its essential role as social infrastructure for the rest of the economy.

Publications

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In addition to being a regular contributor for the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab for four years, and more recently writing a regular business column for the Toronto Star, Yalnizyan has published widely in Canadian publications ranging from Macleans, the National Post, the Hill Times, Canadian Business and Zoomer. Yalnizyan also contributed to Straight Goods, a Canadian news magazine, that was online from 2000 to 2013, along with Mel Watkins, Stephen Lewis, Linda McQuaig, Gordon Guyatt, Cathy Crowe, and Charles Gordon; and the Progressive Economics Forum (along with economists like Jim Stanford).

Controversies

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In March 1999, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein sent a letter of complaint to Rod Fraser, the University of Alberta's President after Yalnizyan, who was then at Toronto's Centre for Social Justice, presented a paper at the Parkland Institute's "Poverty Amidst Plenty" conference in which she used Statistics Canada data and the research of two University of Lethbridge academics to argue the gap between rich and poor in Alberta was growing faster than in any other Canadian province "despite a rapidly growing economy".[26] In an immediate response, Klein accused the Parkland Institute of being "factually challenged", "one-sided and ideologically biased." Fraser defended the Parkland Institute and free speech, saying that the "university would not be intimidated by Klein's criticism, and would continue to foster a climate of open debate."[26]

Notes

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  1. ^ The Centre for Social Justice was founded in 1997 to continue the work of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice. The Growing Gap Project was funded by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation (Yalnizyan 1998:v.5).
  2. ^ Topics included "Whether Stephen Poloz will raise interest rates" (June 27, 2018),

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "About Armine Yalnizyan". CBC News. May 13, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  2. ^ Habib, Marlene (October 13, 2011). "Occupy Canada rallies spread in economic 'awakening'". CBC.ca. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  3. ^ Beeby, Dean (September 1, 2014). "Left-leaning think-tank targeted for federal audit because of 'biased' material, document shows". Toronto Star. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Armine Yalnizyan". Upstream. Bio. nd. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Armine Yalnizyan on Economics, Equality and Democracy". TVO Channel via YouTube. May 10, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Profile". Maytree. nd. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  7. ^ "Armine Yalnizyan (MIR 1985)". Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources. Toronto, Ontario. nd. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Armine Yalnizyan". Acadia University. Wolfville, Nova Scotia. 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c Yalnizyan, Armine (October 1998). The Growing Gap: Growing Inequality between Rich and Poor (PDF) (Report). Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). p. 148. ISBN 0-9684032-1-2. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  10. ^ "Armine Yalnizyan". CCPA. Behind the Numbers. nd. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  11. ^ "Opinion: The caring economy is the chokepoint of recovery: What's the plan to value the people we know are essential to our well-being?". The Globe and Mail. March 18, 2021.
  12. ^ Gilroy, Rob (September 30, 2010). "Welcome to Economy Lab". Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  13. ^ Yalnizyan, Armine; Johal, Sunil (April 25, 2018). "Race to the top: Inclusive growth is the new growth model". Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  14. ^ Yalnizyan, Armine (June 27, 2018). "Abandoning the dairy supply-management system would create more problems than solutions". Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  15. ^ "Metro Morning's new voice, new view". Toronto Star, February 9, 2010.
  16. ^ "Kevin O'Leary quits CBC's 'The Lang and O'Leary Exchange' to join rival network". National Post. August 11, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  17. ^ "Social media for population and public health researchers (webinar)". CIHR. December 7, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  18. ^ "Home".
  19. ^ Murphy, Colette (May 13, 2018). "The Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers". Atkinson Foundation. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  20. ^ "The Power List". Maclean's. February 10, 2022. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. 22 Armine Yalnizyan ECONOMY The caring person's economist
  21. ^ Fraiman, Michael (February 10, 2022). "How Armine Yalnizyan became one of Canada's most important economists". Maclean's. Archived from the original on February 11, 2022.
  22. ^ Yalnizyan, Armine (2004). affordable Housing: Squandering Canada's Surplus: Opting for debt reduction and "scarcity by design" (PDF). Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Report). Toronto, Ontario. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  23. ^ Yalnizyan, Armine (December 2010). The Rise of Canada's Richest 1% (PDF) (Report). Ottawa, ON: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  24. ^ Yalnizyan, Armine (October 15, 2016). "Boosting minimum wages, boosting the economy from the bottom up". CCPA. Behind the Numbers. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  25. ^ a b c Yalnizyan, Armine (January 1, 2017). "Redistribution through a basic income: Are we better off when we have more income, or need less of it?". Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  26. ^ a b McMaster, Geoff (March 12, 1999). "President defends Parkland Institute: Freedom of expression applies on and off campus". Folio. Retrieved August 2, 2018. Fraser's remarks were made in the wake of a letter sent to him last week from Klein criticizing the Parkland Institute, a university-funded, left-wing think tank established in January, 1997 to counter right-wing think tanks such as the Fraser and C.D. Howe institutes.
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