The Paradox of Market-Oriented Public Policy and Poor Productivity Growth in Canada

Andrew Sharpe

No 2010-01, CSLS Research Reports from Centre for the Study of Living Standards

Abstract: In recent decades, governments in Canada have pursued market-oriented policies at both the macro and micro levels. Economists believe that such policies should foster productivity growth. Since 2000, however, productivity growth in Canada has been dismal, much below that in the United States and below Canada’s historical trend. The objective of this report is to attempt to explain the paradox of productivity-enhancing public policies and the continuation of poor productivity performance. The report finds that the high degree of market orientation of public policy that already exists in Canada suggests that the productivity-enhancing effects of further liberalization may be quite small.

Keywords: productivity; labour productivity; output per hour; capital intensity; total factor productivity; Canada; employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 E23 J00 J08 O13 O30 O51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2010-01.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sls:resrep:1001

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.csls.ca

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CSLS Research Reports from Centre for the Study of Living Standards 170 Laurier Ave. W, Suite 604, Ottawa, ON K1P 5V5. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CSLS ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).