Productivity Growth, Plant Turnover and Restructuring in the Canadian Manufacturing Sector

Firm turnover occurs as firms gain and lose market share as part of the competitive struggle. The reallocation of market share from one group to another is associated with productivity gain as the less productive lose share and the more productive gain market share. This paper examines the extent to which productivity has been enhanced by firm turnover over the last twenty years. It focuses on the extent to which this process changed during the 1980s and thereby contributed to the slowdown in productivity growth that was experienced by the manufacturing sector.