--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-23/to-capture-production-or-well-being-a-review-article-on-towards-measuring-the-volume-output-of-education-and-health-services-a-handbook/" title: "To Capture Production or Well-being? A Review Article on Towards Measuring the Volume Output of Education and Health Services: A Handbook" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T07:33:47+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T07:33:47+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2012" ipm_keyword: - "Atkinson Report" - "education" - "government productivity" - "health services" - "national accounts" - "OECD" - "output measurement" - "review article" - "social valuation" - "unit costs" ipm_research_theme: - "Measurement and methodology" ipm_country_focus: - "Canada" - "International" - "OECD" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # To Capture Production or Well-being? A Review Article on Towards Measuring the Volume Output of Education and Health Services: A Handbook Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-23/to-capture-production-or-well-being-a-review-article-on-towards-measuring-the-volume-output-of-education-and-health-services-a-handbook/ # To Capture Production or Well-being? A Review Article on Towards Measuring the Volume Output of Education and Health Services: A Handbook [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-23-5-ab-Iorwerth.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Iorwerth, Aled ab. 2012. “To Capture Production or Well-being? A Review Article on Towards Measuring the Volume Output of Education and Health Services: A Handbook.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 23 (Spring 2012): 55–70. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-23/to-capture-production-or-well-being-a-review-article-on-towards-measuring-the-volume-output-of-education-and-health-services-a-handbook/ ## Author: - Aled ab Iorwerth Economic Studies and Policy Analysis Division, Department of Finance Canada ## IPM Issue 23 Spring 2012 pp. 55–70 ## Related IPM articles [Is the SNA Still Useful? 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Catherine Mann Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 3–19](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/could-domestic-industrial-policies-even-with-global-fragmentation-revive-productivity/) [Employment, Output and Productivity Adjustment During the Great Recession: The Role of Managerial Quality Gilbert Cette, Jimmy Lopez, Jacques Mairesse, Giuseppe Nicoletti Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 101–108](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/employment-output-and-productivity-adjustment-during-the-great-recession-the-role-of-managerial-quality/) [IPM Issue 47 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark Fall 2024 | IPM Issue 47 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-47/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn This review article evaluates the report Towards Measuring the Volume Output of Education and Health Services: A Handbook produced by the OECD. Traditionally, input costs have been used to estimate the value of education and health services. The Handbook provides detailed analysis and recommendations regarding appropriate methodologies and data to improve volume output measures for these services. The author welcomes the efforts of the OECD in this area. However, it is argued that output measures should focus on the estimates of the volume of production of these services rather than their social valuation. As such, unit costs should be used as weights when aggregating outputs rather than marginal social valuations, which introduce a degree of subjectivity. RÉSUMÉ Ce compte rendu critique évalue le rapport de l’OCDE Towards Measuring the Volume Output of Education and Health Services : A Handbook. Par le passé, les coûts des intrants de l’éducation et des services de santé étaient utilisés pour les estimations de la production de ces industries. Le Handbook présente une analyse détaillée et des recommandations sur les données et les méthodologies appropriées pour améliorer les mesures de la production réelle pour l’éducation et les services de santé. Les tentatives de l’OCDE dans ce domaine sont très bienvenues. On soutient toutefois que les mesures des extrants devraient mettre l’accent sur l’exactitude de la mesure de la production de ces services dans les comptes nationaux plutôt que sur leur valeur sociale. Les coûts unitaires, plutôt que des valeurs sociales marginales, qui introduisent un certain degré de subjectivité, devraient par conséquent être utilisés comme poids pour l’agrégation des résultats. NATIONAL ACCOUNTS HAVE BECOME a central Cet article de recension évalue le rapport de l’OCDE Towards Measuring the Volume Output of Education and Health Services: A Handbook. Traditionnellement, les coûts des intrants ont été utilisés pour estimer la valeur des services d’éducation et de santé. Le Manuel fournit une analyse détaillée et des recommandations sur les méthodologies et les données appropriées pour améliorer les mesures de la production en volume de ces services. L’auteur salue les efforts de l’OCDE dans ce domaine. Il soutient cependant que les mesures de la production devraient se concentrer sur les estimations du volume de production de ces services plutôt que sur leur valorisation sociale, et que les coûts unitaires devraient être utilisés comme pondérations lors de l’agrégation des extrants plutôt que les valorisations sociales marginales, qui introduisent une dose de subjectivité. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-23-5-ab-Iorwerth.pdf)