--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-1/the-challenge-of-total-factor-productivity-measurement/" title: "The Challenge of Total Factor Productivity Measurement" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-10T09:12:48+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:38:06+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Fall 2000" ipm_keyword: - "industry statistics" - "infrastructure" - "input-output accounts" - "intermediate inputs" - "knowledge capital" - "measurement" - "reproducible capital" - "TFP" ipm_research_theme: - "Measurement and methodology" ipm_country_focus: - "International" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # The Challenge of Total Factor Productivity Measurement Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-1/the-challenge-of-total-factor-productivity-measurement/ # The Challenge of Total Factor Productivity Measurement [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-1-8-Diewert.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Diewert, Erwin. 2000. “The Challenge of Total Factor Productivity Measurement.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 1 (Fall 2000): 45–52. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-1/the-challenge-of-total-factor-productivity-measurement/ ## Author: - Erwin Diewert Department of Economics, University of British Columbia ## IPM Issue 1 Fall 2000 pp. 45–52 ## Related IPM articles [Is the SNA Still Useful? 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Reliable TFP requires price and quantity data on gross outputs, intermediate inputs, labour, and eight additional input classes: reproducible capital, inventories, land, natural resources, working capital and financial instruments, knowledge capital, and infrastructure capital. The article argues that most current TFP studies use only a subset of these inputs and are therefore of limited use. It contrasts the relative tractability of national-level TFP measurement with the serious difficulties at the industry level, and calls for expanded statistical agency resources. Cet article passe en revue les formidables défis de mesure associés à la construction d’estimations fiables de la productivité multifactorielle (PMF) au niveau industriel. Des estimations de PMF fiables nécessitent des données de prix et de quantité sur les extrants bruts, les intrants intermédiaires, la main-d’œuvre et huit autres catégories d’intrants : le capital reproductible, les stocks, la terre, les ressources naturelles, le fonds de roulement et les instruments financiers, le capital de connaissances et le capital d’infrastructure. L’article soutient que la plupart des études actuelles sur la PMF n’utilisent qu’un sous-ensemble de ces intrants et sont donc d’une utilité limitée. Il oppose la relative accessibilité de la mesure de la PMF au niveau national aux sérieuses difficultés qui se posent au niveau industriel, et réclame une expansion des ressources des organismes statistiques. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-1-8-Diewert.pdf)