--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/research/public-infrastructure-and-productivity-updating-the-canadian-case/" title: "Public Infrastructure and Productivity: Updating the Canadian Case" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-02T10:13:16+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-02T10:13:16+00:00" post_type: "research" summary: "" post_tag: - "business sector" - "Canada" - "Cobb-Douglas" - "FGLS" - "infrastructure elasticity" - "OLS" - "productivity" - "provincial panel data" - "public capital" - "public infrastructure" country_focus: - "Canada" province_region: - "National" research_theme: - "Fiscal Policy" - "Productivity and Economic Measurement" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/old-reports_hero_banner_bg.webp" status: "publish" --- # Public Infrastructure and Productivity: Updating the Canadian Case Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/research/public-infrastructure-and-productivity-updating-the-canadian-case/ # Public Infrastructure and Productivity: Updating the Canadian Case [Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/csls2022-04-1.pdf) Cite this report × Cite this report as: Sirota, Matan. 2022. “Public Infrastructure and Productivity: Updating the Canadian Case.” CSLS Research Report 2022-04. Ottawa: Centre for the Study of Living Standards. https://csls.ca/research/public-infrastructure-and-productivity-updating-the-canadian-case/ ## Author: - Matan Sirota Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) ## Report 2022-04 September 2022 51 pages ## Related research [Measuring the Appropriate Outcomes for Better Decision-Making: A Framework to Guide the Analysis of Health Policy Matthew Calver March 2016 | Report 2016-03 | 132 pages](https://csls.ca/research/measuring-the-appropriate-outcomes-for-better-decision-making-a-framework-to-guide-the-analysis-of-health-policy-2016-03/) [Living Standards Domain of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing Andrew Sharpe, Christopher Ross November 2011 | Report 2011-17 | 124 pages](https://csls.ca/research/living-standards-domain-of-the-canadian-index-of-wellbeing-2011-17/) [Productivity: Key to Economic Success Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) March 1998 | Report 1998-01 | 99 pages](https://csls.ca/research/productivity-key-to-economic-success/) [Apprenticeship in Canada: A Training System Under Siege? 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Provincial panel data spanning 1998-2020 are leveraged to determine the effect of public infrastructure on business sector output and productivity. Several specifications (levels and first-differences) of the Cobb-Douglas production function are estimated using OLS and FGLS techniques that account for heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, cross-sectional dependence, and province-specific effects. I find output and productivity elasticities for aggregated public infrastructure to be predominantly insignificant from zero. A detailed disaggregation of public infrastructure by asset type and function also yields largely insignificant results. Ce rapport revisite l’hypothèse du capital public au Canada à l’aide d’un modèle classique avec des techniques d’estimation actualisées. Des données de panel provinciales couvrant la période 1998-2020 sont utilisées pour déterminer l’effet des infrastructures publiques sur la production et la productivité du secteur des entreprises. Plusieurs spécifications (en niveaux et en différences premières) de la fonction de production de Cobb-Douglas sont estimées au moyen des techniques MCO et MCGF, qui tiennent compte de l’hétéroscédasticité, de l’autocorrélation, de la dépendance transversale et des effets propres à chaque province. Je constate que les élasticités de la production et de la productivité par rapport aux infrastructures publiques agrégées sont en grande partie non significativement différentes de zéro. Une désagrégation détaillée des infrastructures publiques par type d’actif et par fonction donne également des résultats largement non significatifs. [Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/csls2022-04-1.pdf)