Labour productivity growth in the Canadian business sector slowed substantially after 2000. Most of the slowdown occurred in the manufacturing sector. This paper examines how this slowdown was associated with the restructuring that occurred in manufacturing as a result of the increase in excess...

The paper examines the industry characteristics that are related to the shifts in competitiveness, measured as the relative common-currency price ratios between Canadian and US manufacturing prices. We find that relative input costs and relative productivity growth are the two most important...

Industry measures of offshoring of material inputs are often generated using the proportionality assumption applied to aggregate import data—that the import share of each commodity used in the production process for a particular industry is similar to the import share of a commodity for the...

The paper examines whether Canadians were paying more than the Americans for the goods and services they purchase. Based on more than 160 product price data for each of the five years under study (1985, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999), the study finds that there were, on average, no significant price...

The paper examines the pricing behaviour of 81 Canadian manufacturing industries from 1974 to 1996. It explores the domestic and foreign factors that affect price formation in Canada and the circumstances in which Canadian prices respond to foreign (U.S.) influences (the law of one price), as...

During the post-1970 period, Canadian manufacturing prices have alternately increased and fallen relative to U.S. prices - just the reverse of the cycle in the Canada - U.S. exchange rate. But not all manufacturing industries have experienced the same amplitude of relative price changes. This...

The paper examines whether arbitrage tends to equalize commodity prices for internationally traded homogenous products. It also investigates whether the increasing integration of North American markets has reduced price differences over time, and tests the validity of the so-called Law of One...