Technological Frontiers and Post-2000 Productivity Growth in Canada

Multifactor productivity (MFP) declined in Canada from 2000 to 2009 and then recovered after. The movements in productivity since 2000 have attracted great attention from researchers and policy makers because productivity is important both for economic growth and for improvements in living standards. This paper applies the stochastic frontier framework to decompose each firm’s MFP into two parts: its technological frontier and its technical efficiency. Change in the aggregate technological frontier refers to improvements in the productivity potential of an economy, i.e., the maximum productivity of an economy if all firms are fully efficient. Aggregate technical efficiency reflects the economy’s capacity to achieve that potential. The results of this decomposition can show whether the movements in productivity after 2000 in Canada were mainly the result of changes in the technological frontier and productivity potential or of changes in the technical efficiency.