Ali has led several research projects at CSLS, including work on early childhood educator wages and studies of productivity performance in Canada’s construction and transportation sectors.
Before joining CSLS in 2023, Ali was a PhD student and research assistant in the Economics Department at Western University. Since 2021, he has taught economics courses at Western University, King’s University College and Fanshawe College.
Ali holds an M.A. in Economics from Western University and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Iran.
Energy policy has consequences that extend well beyond producers and pipelines to impact household and business costs. In North America, a key factor keeping energy affordable is the flow of Canadian natural gas into US markets. When gas moves freely across the border, households and businesses save billions of dollars. When gas trade is disrupted, those…
Alisaleh ShariatiReport 2026-01 | June 2026 | 71 pages | Economic Well-Being, Fiscal Policy, Labour Markets
This report evaluates the economic returns of Canada’s Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system, five years after historic federal investments launched the initiative in 2021. Using Labour Force Survey microdata and a difference-in-differences methodology, the report finds that approximately 29,000 additional mothers entered employment by the end of 2025 as a result of the…
Alisaleh ShariatiReport 2025-08 | December 2025 | 187 pages | Productivity and Economic Measurement, Sector/Industry Analysis
The productivity performance of Canada’s residential construction has been abysmal since the turn of the century. Output per hour in 2024 was 8 per cent lower than in 2000, reflecting an average annual decline of 0.4 per cent over the period. This report sheds light on this troubling development, with particular attention to the sharp 3.8…
Alisaleh ShariatiReport 2025-03 | October 2025 | 44 pages | Economic Well-Being, Regional Economic Development
This study provides internationally comparable estimates of the United Nations’ Human Development Index (HDI) for Canadian provinces and territories over the 2000-2023 period. The HDI is a composite index composed of three dimensions (life expectancy, education and income) measured by four indicators (life expectancy at birth, average years of education, expected years of schooling and gross…
Alisaleh ShariatiReport 2025-02 | October 2025 | 42 pages | Economic Well-Being, Productivity and Economic Measurement
Canada’s position in the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) has slipped from 3rd in 1990 to 16ᵗʰ in 2023, when the latest report was released in 2025. This 13‑place decline occurred even though Canada’s absolute HDI score continued to improve. Using the UNDP’s revised HDI series, national Labour Force Survey (LFS) enrolment data and counterfactual…
Andrew Sharpe; Alisaleh ShariatiReport 2024-09 | October 2024 | 80 pages | Productivity and Economic Measurement, Sector/Industry Analysis
Productivity growth in Canada has been abysmal in Canada in recent years. Using either 2017 or 2019 as a base, output per hour growth in this country has been by far the weakest in the G-7. For two-digit NAICS industries, the transportation and warehousing sector has experienced the worst labour productivity performance, down 4 per cent…
Alisaleh ShariatiReport 2024-02 | May 2024 | 45 pages | Fiscal Policy, Labour Markets
The Canada-wide early learning and child care program may not successfully provide the additional 250,000 child care spaces by 2026 as envisioned in Budget 2021. A key reason for this is the lack of qualified Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) needed to staff these additional spaces. This shortage is partly due to the low wages in this…
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