In this paper, we estimate the determinants of low (and slow) completion rates with a competing risk duration model using data from the National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS) 2007. This allows us to distinguish the impact age and duration dependence on the probability of dropping out. We find...

We utilize a multinomial probit model and the 2007 National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS) to investigate the persistence behaviour of individuals enrolled in apprenticeship programs. These behaviours include continuing, discontinuing (or quitting) and completing programs. The NAS contains detailed...

Traditional index number theory decomposes a value ratio into the product of a price index times a quantity index. Growth accounting is based on this traditional approach to index number theory. This paper takes an alternative approach which decomposes a value difference into the sum of a price...

Tang and Wang provided a decomposition of economy wide labour productivity into sectoral contribution effects. The present note reworks their methodology to provide a more transparent and simple decomposition. This new decomposition is then related to another decomposition due to Gini and...

The paper provides some new decompositions of labour productivity growth and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth into sectoral effects. These new decompositions draw on the earlier work of Tang and Wang (2004). The economy wide labour productivity growth rate turns out to depend on the...

An earlier paper by Diewert (2013) provided some new decompositions of economy wide labour productivity growth and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth into sectoral effects. The economy wide labour productivity growth rate turned out to depend on the sectoral labour productivity growth rates,...

Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for understanding key issues in economics. Price and quantity series are derived for four education levels. The price series are highly correlated and they exhibit a strong secular trend. Three...

We examine the evolution of the returns to human capital in Canada over the period 1980-2005. Our main finding is that returns to education increased substantially for Canadian men, contrary to conclusions reached previously. Most of this rise took place in the early 1980s and since 1995....

Studies based on instrumental variable techniques suggest that the value of a high school education is large for potential dropouts, yet we know much less about the size of the benefiÂ…t for students who will go on to post-secondary education. To help Â…fill this gap, I measure the...

There is growing international interest in a Canadian-style points system for selecting economic immigrants. Although existing points systems have been influenced by the human capital literature, the findings have traditionally been incorporated in an ad hoc way. This paper explores a formal...