--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-10/explaining-productivity-growth-the-role-of-demographics/" title: "Explaining Productivity Growth: The Role of Demographics" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T06:53:23+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:53:23+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2005" ipm_keyword: - "Canada" - "cross-country" - "demographics" - "Europe" - "labour force growth" - "post-1973" - "post-1995" - "productivity" - "technological transition" - "United States" ipm_research_theme: - "Productivity trends and comparisons" ipm_country_focus: - "Canada" - "Europe" - "International" - "OECD" - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Explaining Productivity Growth: The Role of Demographics Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-10/explaining-productivity-growth-the-role-of-demographics/ # Explaining Productivity Growth: The Role of Demographics [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-10-3-Beaudry-Collard-Green.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Beaudry, Paul, Fabrice Collard, and David Green. 2005. “Explaining Productivity Growth: The Role of Demographics.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 10 (Spring 2005): 45–58. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-10/explaining-productivity-growth-the-role-of-demographics/ ## Authors: - Paul Beaudry Department of Economics, University of British Columbia - Fabrice Collard Department of Economics, University of Toulouse - David Green Department of Economics, University of British Columbia ## IPM Issue 10 Spring 2005 pp. 45–58 ## Related IPM articles [The Relationship between Efficiencies Defenses for Mergers and TFP Growth Robin Shaban Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 82–102](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/the-relationship-between-efficiencies-defenses-for-mergers-and-tfp-growth/) [Adult Skills and Productivity: New Evidence from PIAAC 2023 Dan Andrews, Balázs Égert, Christine de La Maisonneuve Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 41–63](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/adult-skills-and-productivity-new-evidence-from-piaac-2023/) [Appendix: Variable Definitions and Country/Sector Coverage for Regulatory Reform Analysis Gilbert Cette, Jimmy Lopez, Giuseppe Nicoletti, Océane Vernerey Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 1–18](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/appendix-variable-definitions-and-country-sector-coverage-for-regulatory-reform-analysis/) [The Potential Impact of Pro-competitive Regulatory Reforms on Productivity and Growth in Canada Gilbert Cette, Jimmy Lopez, Giuseppe Nicoletti, Océane Vernerey Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 3–40](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/the-potential-impact-of-pro-competitive-regulatory-reforms-on-productivity-and-growth-in-canada/) [IPM Issue 49 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark, Paul Schreyer Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/) [De-industrialization and the Great Productivity Slowdown: What Comes Next? Paul Fisher Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 115–138](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/de-industrialization-and-the-great-productivity-slowdown-what-comes-next/) [Appendix: UK Productivity Growth Rates Across Data Vintages and Studies Josh Martin Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 65–73](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/appendix-uk-productivity-growth-rates-across-data-vintages-and-studies/) [Opportunities and Risks of Artificial Intelligence for Productivity Francesco Filippucci, Peter Gal, Katharina Laengle, Matthias Schief, Filiz Unsal Spring 2025 | IPM Issue 48 | pp. 1–26](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-48/opportunities-and-risks-of-artificial-intelligence-for-productivity/) [Using Ecosystem Accounting to Integrate the Environment in Measures of Multifactor Productivity Carl Obst Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 87–108](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/using-ecosystem-accounting-to-integrate-the-environment-in-measures-of-multifactor-productivity/) [Eroding Natural Capital: An Alternative Explanation for the Secular Decline in Productivity Growth Christina Caron Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 109–147](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/eroding-natural-capital-an-alternative-explanation-for-the-secular-decline-in-productivity-growth/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn This article argues that differences in labour force growth rates across countries have played a significant and underappreciated role in shaping cross-country productivity growth patterns since the mid-1970s. Using international data, the authors find that countries with rapid labour force growth experienced particularly slow productivity growth over 1978-1995, followed by a turnaround after 1995, while countries with slow labour force growth experienced prolonged productivity stagnation extending into the post-1995 era. The authors situate this finding in the context of a major technological transition, in which economies with faster labour force growth faced greater learning costs in adopting new technologies and thus adjusted more slowly. Cet article soutient que les différences dans les taux de croissance de la population active entre les pays ont joué un rôle important et sous-estimé dans la configuration des schémas de croissance de la productivité entre pays depuis le milieu des années 1970. À l’aide de données internationales, les auteurs constatent que les pays à forte croissance de la population active ont connu une croissance de la productivité particulièrement lente sur la période 1978-1995, suivie d’un redressement après 1995, tandis que les pays à faible croissance de la population active ont connu une stagnation prolongée de la productivité s’étendant à l’ère post-1995. Les auteurs situent ce constat dans le contexte d’une importante transition technologique, dans laquelle les économies à plus forte croissance de la population active ont fait face à des coûts d’apprentissage plus élevés dans l’adoption de nouvelles technologies et ont donc ajusté plus lentement. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-10-3-Beaudry-Collard-Green.pdf)