--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-14/lessons-for-canada-from-international-productivity-experience/" title: "Lessons for Canada from International Productivity Experience" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T06:53:57+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:53:57+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2007" ipm_keyword: - "Australia" - "Canada" - "competition" - "Finland" - "human capital" - "international experience" - "Ireland" - "OECD" - "productivity" - "Sweden" - "technology adoption" - "United Kingdom" - "United States" ipm_research_theme: - "Policy and institutions" ipm_country_focus: - "Australia" - "Canada" - "Finland" - "Ireland" - "OECD" - "Sweden" - "United Kingdom" - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Lessons for Canada from International Productivity Experience Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-14/lessons-for-canada-from-international-productivity-experience/ # Lessons for Canada from International Productivity Experience [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-14-2-Sharpe.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Sharpe, Andrew. 2007. “Lessons for Canada from International Productivity Experience.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 14 (Spring 2007): 20–37. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-14/lessons-for-canada-from-international-productivity-experience/ ## Author: - Andrew Sharpe Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) ## IPM Issue 14 Spring 2007 pp. 20–37 ## Related IPM articles [Is the SNA Still Useful? 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The paper first presents some general lessons from the productivity performance of OECD countries and international evidence of productivity drivers based on the OECD growth project and productivity studies by the McKinsey Global Institute. It then briefly discusses the productivity experience of six OECD countries considered of particular interest to Canada — the United States, Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Sweden — and comments on possible lessons for Canada from these experiences. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS ARTICLE is to L’objectif de cet article est de développer une compréhension plus complète, d’un point de vue politique, des principaux facteurs déterminants de la productivité du travail dans certains pays de l’OCDE et de leur impact sur l’amélioration de la performance en matière de productivité. L’article présente d’abord quelques enseignements généraux tirés de la performance de productivité des pays de l’OCDE et des données probantes internationales sur les déterminants de la productivité fondées sur le projet de croissance de l’OCDE et les études de productivité du McKinsey Global Institute. Il examine ensuite brièvement l’expérience de productivité de six pays de l’OCDE jugés particulièrement pertinents pour le Canada — les États-Unis, l’Australie, l’Irlande, le Royaume-Uni, la Finlande et la Suède — et formule des observations sur les enseignements possibles pour le Canada. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-14-2-Sharpe.pdf)