The persistence of shocks to aggregate output in Canada is investigated under a multisectoral framework. This approach allows for a decomposition of the persistent effect of output into macro and “other” possibly sector-specific shocks. The framework makes the distinction between the pre-war...

Despite the importance of public capital in Canada's economic development, the effect of its externalities on the economic performance of the private sector has, surprisingly, barely been recognized by the economic literature. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap. Using a integrated...

Some of the recent “hype” about how advances in technology are forging a “new economy” has evaporated. Interest in “dot.com” start-up companies in the US has waned with the decline in stock market valuations. Some of the more extravagant claims – in particular, that the “new...

This paper statistically tests the theory of irreversible investment under uncertainty. Using dynamic programming and contingent claims valuation alternatively, we derive the value of options to invest in capacity, where the projects are endogenous to the economic circumstances prevailing at the...

A statistical agency faces several challenges in building Productivity Accounts. What started out as a request for simple ratios of output to employment has moved to a demand for multifactor (total factor) productivity measures that take into account both labor and capital inputs, the...