This paper examines the level of labour productivity in Canada relative to that of the United States in 1999. In doing so, it addresses two main issues. The first is the comparability of the measures of GDP and labour inputs that the statistical agency in each country produces. Second, it...

This paper examines the different types of deflators that are used to compare volume estimates of national income and production across countries. It argues that these deflators need to be tailored to the specific income concept used for study. If the potential to spend concept is employed, a...

This paper examines the trend in the importance of small producers in the Canadian and U.S. manufacturing sectors from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. It finds similar trends in both countries. Small plants increased their share of employment up to the 1990s but their share remained stable in...

This paper asks how the performance of self-employed unincorporated businesses affects the size of the gap in labour productivity between Canada and the United States. To do so, the business sector in each country is divided into unincorporated and corporate businesses, and estimates of labour...

Many historical comparisons of international productivity use measures of labour productivity (output per worker). Differences in labour productivity can be caused by differences in technical efficiency or differences in capital intensity. Moving to measures of total factor productivity allows...

Official data from statistical agencies are not always ideal for cross-country comparisons because of differences in data sources and methodology. Analysts who engage in cross-country comparisons need to carefully choose among alternatives and sometimes adapt data especially for their purposes....

This paper was prepared for the National Statistics Council, which advises the chief statistician of Canada on the full range of Statistics Canada's activities, particularly on overall program priorities