Canadian Productivity Growth: An Alternative (Input-Output) Analysis

Kenneth M. Glazier was Chief Librarian Emeritus at the University of Calgary, Alberta.

One of the concerns about the Canadian economy is that the productivity from the labour force is low. This is a favourite theme of economists. In this treatise, two economists on the staff of the Economic Council of Canada draw on their extensive academic training and previous papers to present a relatively new approach to Canadian productivity analysis. The approach utilizes numerous tables, formulas, statistics, and mathematical equations often beyond the range of the ordinary reader but of interest to the experts. This is not bedtime reading, but for those who are interested and can understand the text, there is also a selective bibliography.

The input-output analysis mentioned in the subtitle differs from the traditional measure of labour productivity. The latter approach is industry-oriented: productivity is defined in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) originating in each industry per person employed. Economic statisticians have complained that this simple measure of (labour) productivity is not satisfactory, particularly for individual industries. It is argued that there are other primary (own industry) factors of production besides labour — namely, physical capital input that is demand-oriented (or consumption-oriented), rather than industry-oriented (or production-oriented). A scholarly work on a subject pertinent to our times.