---
canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/research/csls-international-conference-on-service-sector-productivity-and-the-productivity-paradox/"
title: "CSLS International Conference on Service Sector Productivity and the Productivity Paradox"
author:
  name: "shomp"
  url: "https://csls.ca/author/shomp/"
date_published: "2026-08-17T20:12:09+00:00"
date_modified: "2026-08-17T20:12:10+00:00"
post_type: "research"
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status: "publish"
---

# CSLS International Conference on Service Sector Productivity and the Productivity Paradox

Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/research/csls-international-conference-on-service-sector-productivity-and-the-productivity-paradox/

# CSLS International Conference on Service Sector Productivity and the Productivity Paradox

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Andrew Sharpe, Alice O. Nakamura, Erwin Diewert. CSLS International Conference on Service Sector Productivity and the Productivity Paradox. April 1997 | CP-01 | 886 pages. https://csls.ca/research/csls-international-conference-on-service-sector-productivity-and-the-productivity-paradox/.

## Authors:

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Andrew Sharpe
Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS)

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Alice O. Nakamura
University of Alberta

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Erwin Diewert
Department of Economics, University of British Columbia

## CP-01

April 1997 886 pages

## Abstract

## Résumé

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The second stage of a major CSLS project on service sector productivity and the productivity paradox, coordinated by Erwin Diewert (UBC), Alice Nakamura (University of Alberta) and Andrew Sharpe (CSLS), involving a network of over forty researchers in nine countries. In recent years the information technology revolution had transformed the service sector, yet productivity growth in many service industries was weak or even negative. The conference addressed two questions: whether official data for service industries truly capture changes in real output and hence productivity, and — if the data do reflect reality — why the information revolution was having no apparent payoff in productivity growth. Seven sessions covered conceptual and measurement frameworks, service sector productivity measurement, innovation in the service sector, insurance, banking, public sector productivity, and explanations of the productivity paradox, with luncheon addresses by Zvi Griliches and Dale Jorgenson and a closing panel. The project’s third stage was the April 1999 special issue of the Canadian Journal of Economics (see JS-03).

Deuxième étape d’un important projet du CENV sur la productivité du secteur tertiaire et le paradoxe de la productivité, coordonné par Erwin Diewert, Alice Nakamura et Andrew Sharpe et regroupant plus de quarante chercheurs de neuf pays. La révolution des technologies de l’information avait transformé le secteur tertiaire, mais la croissance de la productivité y demeurait faible, voire négative. La conférence posait deux questions : les données officielles rendent-elles fidèlement compte de la production réelle et donc de la productivité? Et, si oui, pourquoi la révolution informatique ne se traduit-elle pas par des gains de productivité? Sept séances ont porté sur les cadres conceptuels et de mesure, la mesure de la productivité des services, l’innovation, l’assurance, les services bancaires, le secteur public et les explications du paradoxe, avec des allocutions de Zvi Griliches et de Dale Jorgenson.

[Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/CSLS-Conference-1997-Service-Sector-Productivity-and-the-Productivity-Paradox.pdf)