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Partial versus Total Factor Productivity: Assessing Resource Use in Natural Resource Industries in Canada

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  • Alexander Murray

Abstract

A partial productivity measure relates output to a single input. Total factor productivity (or TFP) relates an index of output to a composite index of all inputs. This report discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each type of productivity measure from theoretical and methodological perspectives. Different productivity measures may be useful for different analytical purposes, and no single measure provides a complete picture of an industry's productivity performance. The report then presents estimates of TFP and a suite of partial productivity measures for a set of natural resource-related industries in Canada. The three forestry products industries and the crop and animal production industry exhibited the best productivity performance over the 1990-2012 period across a variety of productivity measures, while oil and gas extraction and mining experienced the worst productivity performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Murray, 2016. "Partial versus Total Factor Productivity: Assessing Resource Use in Natural Resource Industries in Canada," CSLS Research Reports 2016-20, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:resrep:1620
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    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2016-20.pdf
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    1. Ramanauske, Neringa & Balezentis, Tomas & Streimikiene, Dalia, 2023. "Biomass use and its implications for bioeconomy development: A resource efficiency perspective for the European countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Nancy Olewiler, 2017. "Canada’s dependence on natural capital wealth: Was Innis wrong?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(4), pages 927-964, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity; Total Factor Productivity; Multifactor Productivity; Labour Productivity; Natural Resources; Measurement; Canada; Agriculture;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • Q3 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation
    • O51 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - U.S.; Canada

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