After finishing his Ph.D. in economics at Leuven, in Belgium, in 1970, he became professor at the Department of Economics of the Université de Montréal. Throughout his career, he published many articles in peer-reviewed journals, mainly in the field of labor economics. From 1987 to 1993, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the Université de Montréal. He served as Rector of the university from 1998 until 2005.
In 2005, he was among the twelve signatories of the political manifesto Pour un Québec lucide.