A New Data Set of Quarterly Total Factor Productivity in the Canadian Business Sector

In this paper, a quarterly growth-accounting data set is built for the Canadian business sector with the top-down approach of Diewert and Yu (2012). Inputs and outputs are measured and used to estimate the quarterly total factor productivity (TFP). In addition, the estimates of annual TFP growth by Diewert and Yu (2012) are revised and updated to reflect changes in the new national economic accounts and national balance-sheet accounts. The quarterly series also provide suitable data for studying short-run dynamics. To demonstrate, a simple vector autoregressive model is estimated to study the responses of hours worked and investment to TFP shocks. Hours worked drop and investment rises in reaction to a positive TFP shock.