A General Equilibrium Analysis of the Evolution of the Canadian Service Productivity

This paper measures factor productivities (and hence total factor productivity growth) directly on the basis of the fundamentals of the economy (endowments, preferences and technology), without recourse to market prices. The factor productivities are the Lagrange multipliers of a linear program maximizing domestic final demand subject to material balances, endowment constraints, and a balance of payments constraint. The model is applied to the data of the Canadian economy from 1962 to 1991. The commonly held view that services are dragging down the whole economy does not stand the facts.
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