--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-9/ten-productivity-puzzles-facing-researchers/" title: "Ten Productivity Puzzles Facing Researchers" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T06:53:20+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:53:20+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Fall 2004" ipm_keyword: - "Canada" - "capital intensity" - "Europe" - "non-business sector" - "OECD" - "post-1973 slowdown" - "post-2000 acceleration" - "productivity puzzles" - "research agenda" - "United States" ipm_research_theme: - "Measurement and methodology" ipm_country_focus: - "Canada" - "Europe" - "OECD" - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Ten Productivity Puzzles Facing Researchers Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-9/ten-productivity-puzzles-facing-researchers/ # Ten Productivity Puzzles Facing Researchers [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-9-2-Sharpe.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Sharpe, Andrew. 2004. “Ten Productivity Puzzles Facing Researchers.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 9 (Fall 2004): 15–24. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-9/ten-productivity-puzzles-facing-researchers/ ## Author: - Andrew Sharpe Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) ## IPM Issue 9 Fall 2004 pp. 15–24 ## Related IPM articles [Is the SNA Still Useful? 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Canada-specific puzzles include: the large difference in non-business sector productivity growth between Canada and the United States; the persistent Canada-U.S. productivity level gap; and Canada’s relatively low machinery and equipment capital intensity. Cet article cerne et examine dix des énigmes les plus importantes non résolues dans la recherche sur la productivité — sept énigmes générales et trois propres au Canada. Les énigmes internationales comprennent : les causes du ralentissement de la productivité après 1973; les explications de l’accélération de la productivité américaine après 2000; les raisons pour lesquelles les niveaux de productivité du travail dans plusieurs pays européens dépassent les niveaux américains; et l’absence d’accélération de la productivité après 1995 en Europe. Les énigmes propres au Canada comprennent : la grande différence dans la croissance de la productivité du secteur non commercial entre le Canada et les États-Unis; l’écart persistant de niveau de productivité Canada-États-Unis; et la relativement faible intensité du capital en machines et matériel du Canada. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-9-2-Sharpe.pdf)