International
Funded Projects
In economic models of trade, it is stated that firms that are more productive will export, while those that are less productive will sell products domestically or completely exit the market. However, differences in productivity alone cannot explain why some firms export and some do not. One aspect that may limit a firms international trading opportunities is a lack of information regarding such opportunities, or a lack of assurance that trading agreements will be honoured. Members of migrant networks may play a role in overcoming such barriers by acting as mediators between the firm and potential trading partner. The objective of this research is to (1) determine the relationship between firms that export and the composition of their employees, and (2) how the Canadian immigration policy has shaped a firm’s ability to export. Specifically, this paper will explore if firms with foreign-born workers are more likely to export, if firms make hiring decisions based on the possibility of exporting, and if there is any evidence to suggest firms hire foreign-born workers to mitigate the information barriers discussed above.
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
An extensive amount of literature has stated that immigrants may exhibit poorer economic performance than native-born citizens. There are three main reasons why this relationship may occur: (1) human capital, such as the education and labour market experiences, may be lower for immigrants, (2) language proficiency tends to be lower among immigrants, and (3) immigrants may have weaker networks or live in areas that consist predominately of one ethnic group, known as enclaves. The purpose of this study is to explore another potential reason why immigrants’ economic performance is lower, specifically, financial literacy. Financial literacy allows agents to make more informed decisions regarding saving, investing, borrowing, etc. Evidence from surveys have documented that there are large variations in financial literacy across demographic characteristics such as gender, education, age, religion, and ethnicity. This project studies whether immigrants in Canada are financially sophisticated by examining whether eligible immigrants take advantage of tax breaks. Higher levels of financial literacy may reflect higher levels of human capital, language proficiency and stronger social networks. Thus, this study will account for, or condition on language, education, and networks (measured by the proximity of businesses or individuals with similar demographics).
Related Data Sets
CEEDD
Related Research Themes
Incomes, International
This project aims to study how the signing of International Investment Agreements (IIAs) changes the structure of Canadian firms that trade and invest in IIA partner countries. The goal is to estimate how the investment protection portion of these agreements impacts Canadian firms’ decision to vertically integrate with its intermediate input suppliers in those countries or to horizontally integrate by expanding to new markets. The key issue is determining how much those agreements affect economic growth in Canada.
Additional dataset: Canadian Direct Investment Abroad (CDIA)
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Despite half a century of experience with environmental regulation in Europe and North America, there is still much debate over the likely impacts of environmental regulation. For example, many believe that regulation comes at the cost of economic growth in the regulated region and these costs outweigh any potential environmental benefit. While the regulation does have costs, it is important to understand the trade-offs between these costs and environmental benefits. This research is designed to help inform policymakers and the public about the costs and benefits of climate policy, by quantifying the productivity impact of British Columbia’s carbon tax in the manufacturing sector.
Related Data Sets
ASM
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
The process of how the economic status of immigrants’ changes from the time of their arrival onward, and how they integrate into the labour market can determine what factors lead to improved outcomes. Another area of interest is how the career dynamics of immigrants and natives differ. The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: (1) how do immigrants sort into different firms as they assimilate and how their networks play a role in this process, and (2) how firm-specific pay policies may affect immigrants and natives differently? While previous Canadian studies that have investigated the economic status of immigrants employ census-type data, this study will use longitudinal matched employer and employee data. This data is particularly useful as the same sample is tracked at different points in time. The study will look at changes in the characteristics of the jobs immigrants sort into as they assimilate. Such characteristics include the ratio of natives to immigrants in the firm and the size of the firm. Schmutte (2015) has shown that individuals whose neighbours are employed at high-paying firms are more likely to move to a firm that is higher-paying. It is of interest to see if this is the case for immigrants. This may distinguish if certain groups of immigrants that live in certain places assimilate faster.
Related Data Sets
CEEDD
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Empirical evidence for many countries suggests that trade intermediaries, such as wholesalers, account for a substantial share of the total import value. Given that these firms constitute an intermediate step in the distribution of merchandise, wholesalers’ decisions of what products to import and from where are likely to affect the nature and magnitude of trade frictions, as well as the degree of competition faced by domestic producers. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the role played by wholesalers, this project is focused on studying how their import activity affects firms in the manufacturing sector. In particular, it aims to identify the multiple margins that manufacturing firms adjust in response to higher import penetration in consumption and intermediate goods by wholesalers.
Related Data Sets
NALMF
Related Research Themes
International
The role of intermediaries in international trade is increasing. Broadly defined, intermediaries act as a link between different parties in an agreement or transaction. This may include links in supply chains or specialized firms that assist manufacturers dealing with foreign markets. The purpose of this study is to analyze the importance of wholesalers, a specific type of intermediary, in terms of imports in Canada. In the United States 56% of firms that import are in fact intermediaries, accounting for the purchase of 24% of total imports. Information regarding intermediaries in Canada is scarce. Firm-level imports, either intermediate or finished products, can be categorized into direct and indirect imports. Direct imports are: (1) inputs purchased by manufacturers that are to be used in the production process, and (2) finished products purchased by retailers for the purpose of being sold to consumers. Indirect imports are intermediate products and finished products bought by wholesalers for resale to manufacturers or retailers. Thus, importing firms can be allocated to one of the four following bins: (1) direct importer – manufacturer, (2) direct importer – retailer, (3) indirect importer – wholesaler, and (4) mixed importer (i.e., both direct and indirect importer). This research paper will document the importance, characteristics, and determinants of each bin. As a secondary goal, this paper will investigate intermediation with respect to the United States and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This aspect is relevant since intermediaries possess a greater advantage over direct importing when the barriers to trade are more significant.
Data link: T2-Leap combined with import trade data, 2002-2012
Related Data Sets
ASM-I, T2-LEAP
Related Research Themes
International
This project consists of three projects:
Project 1 - Complementarity of Performance Pay and Task Allocation
Bryan Hong, Lorenz Keung and Mu-Jeung Yang
Complementary management practices are those that are interdependent and together reinforce one another to improve overall firm performance. Research has suggested that such complementarity between different management practices is one underlying cause of differences in performance outcomes among firms. The purpose of this study is to examine the complementarity between two specific management practices: pay-for-performance and decentralization, the dispersion of decision making from a central authority to subgroups of the firm. While these practices have been empirically investigated individually, little is known about how the interaction between decentralization and pay-for-performance may affect firm performance.
Project 2 - Barbarians at the Gate: How foreign competition affects intra-organizational conflict
Bryan Hong and Romel Mostafa
Cyert and March (1963) describe the firm as the combination of interdependent groups, which often have competing interests. It is no surprise that such competing interests can lead to conflict within firms, also referred to as intra-organizational conflict. The effects of intra-organizational conflict are well studied. Research has indicated that the time managers spend managing conflicts is substantial, suggesting the cost of conflicts within the firm are significant. Little is known about how forces outside of the firm affect the likelihood and prevalence of conflict within a firm. The purpose of this study is to estimate how one specific external force, foreign competition, affects the occurrence and frequency of intra-organizational conflict in the Canadian context. This study uses data from the Workplace and Employee (WES) survey conducted by Statistics Canada.
Project 3: Incentives as a Moderator of Conflict During Organizational Change
Bryan Hong
When a firm experiences an organizational change or restructuring, it is likely conflicts that disrupt the firm will occur. This study focuses on how organizational changes affect the prevalence of conflicts and employee grievances filed within the firm. As a measure for organizational changes, this study employs changes in organizational structure (ex. centralization, decentralization, outsourcing) from the WES survey. This study also investigates how the presence of group level pay-for-performance incentives (ex. profit sharing plans) affect the frequency of firm conflicts.
Additional datasets: Labour Force Survey (LFS) & General Index of Financial Information (GIFI)
Romel Mostafa is an Assistant Professor at the Ivey Business School, Western University
Lorenz Kueng is an Assistant Professor at Northwestern-Kellogg
Mu-Jeung Yang is an Assistant Professor at University of Washington, Seattle
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Does the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) reduce resource misallocation in Canada? The implementation of CUSFTA can be viewed as a natural experiment which makes it ideal for estimating the causal effect of trade policy on the misallocation of resources. To do this, I use both static and dynamic panel models with data from the Annual Surveys of Manufactures (ASM) for the period 1980 to 1996. I use tariff rates from Trefler (2004) and measure resource misallocation using the dispersion in revenue total factor productivity (TFPR). This study sheds light on how reversion back to CUSFTA following a collapse of NAFTA might impact productivity in Canada due to changes in resource misallocation.
Related Data Sets
ASM
Related Research Themes
International
This study investigates the impact of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on price dispersion in Canada. The impact of trade reforms on producer price dispersion is not straightforward: while increased competition would be expected to alleviate price differences by favoring the most productive firms, access to new markets alongside product differentiation may allow producers to charge more disperse prices.
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Data Sets
ASMAnnual Survey of Manufacturing
ASM-IImport Registry Database
CBSA CustomsCanada Border Service Agency Customs
TECTrade by Exporter Characteristics
News
Productivity Partnership Spring 2020 Newsletter
November 3, 2020 | NEWSLETTER
In this newsletter:
New funded projects
Explore CDER datasets
Apply for project funding
Past events
Papers and Presentations
News
Productivity Partnership Winter 2020 Newsletter
March 31, 2020 | NEWSLETTER
In this newsletter:
New funded projects
Explore CDER datasets
Apply for project funding
Past events
News
Productivity Partnership Winter 2019 Newsletter
March 4, 2019 | NEWSLETTER
In this newsletter:
New funded projects
Explore CDER datasets
Apply for project funding
Upcoming events
Past events
Working Papers
News
Productivity Partnership Summer 2018 Newsletter
September 12, 2018 | NEWSLETTER
In this newsletter:
New funded projects
Explore CDER datasets
Apply for project funding
Upcoming events
Past events
Working Papers
News
Productivity Partnership Spring 2018 Newsletter
May 24, 2018 | NEWSLETTER
In this newsletter:
New funded projects
Explore CDER datasets
Apply for project funding
Upcoming events
Past events
Datasets highlight
Papers & Presentations
News
Call for Proposals: Funds to assist with the Economic Research using T2-Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program in the Research Data Centres, Statistics Canada
April 12, 2018 | AWARD
Deadline for submissions of proposals: May 15, 2018
Background:
Statistics Canada is piloting the use of business microdata at its Research Data Centres (RDCs) located in 30 universities across Canada. As through CDER, researchers will work directly with synthetic business microdata before submitting their programs to Statistics Canada staff to be run on the actual microdata. The pilot will consider only research proposals using the T2-Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program (T2-LEAP), an enterprise-level database that contains key information on firm entry and exit, demographics, finances, and performance. The T2-LEAP has been used to study: employment and business dynamics, industry turnover, productivity growth, high-growth firms, and firm financing, survival and performance.
Funding
To assist in the use of the T2-LEAP data sets at the RDCs, the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN) and the Productivity Partnership are funding at least two research projects of up to $6000 each. These funds are intended to be used for research costs including hiring a student research assistant (any level), travel, conference presentation and attendance, ungating of journal articles, and other knowledge mobilization items*.
Call for Proposals Economic Research using T2-Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program
March 1, 2018 | CALL FOR PAPERS
Proposals should be submitted to CDER by April 30, 2018: Canadian Center for Data Development and Economic Research, statcan.cder-cdre.statcan@canada.ca
In this call for proposals, Statistics Canada is piloting the use of business microdata at its Research Data Centres (RDCs) located in 23 universities across Canada. As through CDER, researchers will work directly with synthetic business microdata before submitting their programs to Statistics Canada staff to be run on the actual microdata. The pilot will consider only research proposals using the T2-Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program (T2-LEAP), an enterprise-level database that contains key information on firm entry and exit, demographics, finances, and performance. The T2-LEAP has been used to study: employment and business dynamics, industry turnover, productivity growth, high-growth firms, and firm financing, survival and performance.
Productivity Partnership Travel Grants to the CEA!
February 26, 2018 | AWARD
The Productivity Partnership is pleased to provide at least ten travel awards to students (undergraduate, Masters, PhD) to attend its Data School sessions, Sunday morning at the CEA meetings in Montréal in June.
The award is up to $750 per person and will vary with distance traveled and other circumstances.
Please submit your online application by March 26.
Productivity Partnership's Fall newsletter!
December 7, 2017 | NEWSLETTER
In this newsletter:
New funded projects
Explore possibilities with CDER datasets
Have an idea for a project on productivity? Apply for funding!
Dataset Highlight: Canadian Synthetic Business Data
Call for Papers!
News Highlights!
Students activities
Research activities
Past events
Need support to attend a conference?
Call for papers: 'Explaining Canada’s Post-2000 Productivity Performance' Conference
November 8, 2017 | CALL FOR PAPERS
The Centre for the Study of Living Standards, in collaboration with the Productivity Partnerships, issued a call for papers for the conference to be held in association with the annual meeting of the Canadian Economics Association, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec June 1-3, 2018.
Details on the motivation for the conference, the issues on which papers are sought, and the submission procedures are found in the call for papers. The deadline for proposals is February 2, 2018.
Productivity Partnership Summer 2017 Newsletter
August 31, 2017 | NEWSLETTER
Since our last newsletter, we’ve continued to fund new projects, plan and host events, and grow our digital and social media presence. We’ve also welcomed several new members to the team.
We are pleased to announce that the Productivity Partnership website is live, as are our Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Connect with us and stay up-to-date with our latest news, event details, and more!
Productivity Partnership Winter 2017 Newsletter
February 17, 2017 | NEWSLETTER
The Partnership is a team of experts from the academic, private and public sectors looking for an answer to Canada’s productivity performance using Canadian data from the firm or workplace level.
Over the past few months, we’ve been busy with, among other things, funding projects,planning events and talking with the media.
Over the next six years of the project, we’ll be continuing to in these endeavors and more and will be using various tools such as enewsletters, Twitter, and website (still in development) to communicate and engage.
Events
PRODUCTIVITY PARTNERSHIP DATA SCHOOL SESSIONS AT THE CANADIAN ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION 2019
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Banff, AB
For the 3rd year in a row, the Productivity Partnership will be hosting two data school sessions during the Canadian Economics Association 2019 Annual Meeting. The sessions will take place on Sunday morning and will consist of information on microdata available at CDER/Statistics Canada and presentations from research projects funded by the Partnership.
More information on speakers will be provided soon.
3rd Annual Workshop of Southern Ontario Macro Economists (AWSOME Vol. 3)
Friday, April 26, 2019
McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
Bringing together leading economists from universities across Southern Ontario.
In conjunction with the Department of Economics at McMaster, the Productivity Partnership is sponsoring the third Annual Workshop of Southern Macro Economists (AWSOME). The workshop will bring together leading economists from universities across Southern Ontario to discuss research on the latest developments in the study of macroeconomics. Topics of the workshop include: macro theory, default, quantitative macro, and productivity.
PRODUCTIVITY PARTNERSHIP SEMINAR BY MIGUEL CARDOSO (BROCK UNIVERSITY)
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
KTH 334, McMaster University, Hamilton ON
Miguel Cardoso, Brock University, will discuss his paper "Immigrants and Exports: Firm-level Evidence from Canada."
Time: 12:30 - 1:30
QICSS International Conference 2018: Immigration's Impact, Immigrants' Outcomes: New Results Using Business and Social Data
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Montréal, QC
The international conference " Impact of Immigration, Implications for Immigrants: New Results Using Business and Social Data " will bring together Quebec and Canadian researchers specializing in these new data as well as internationally recognized experts in this field. David Card (University of California) and Richard Alba (City University of New York) are among the guest speakers.
This conference is organized by the Quebec Interuniversity Center for Social Statistics and the Productivity Partnership, in collaboration with the Canadian Research Data Centre Network, the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO) and HEC Montréal.
Call for proposals: Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Online
Statistics Canada is launching a new pilot project with the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises 2014 (SFGSME) linked to administrative data and is now inviting interested researchers to submit a proposal by November 4, 2018 (extended).
The Trade Policy Gender Gap: Why are Women More Protectionist than Men?
Thursday, August 30, 2018
KTH 334 | McMaster University, Hamilton ON
Starting at 2:30pm, Eugene Beaulieu (University of Calgary) will be giving a seminar on The Trade Policy Gender Gap: Why are Women More Protectionist than Men?
Drinks afterwards. If you'd like to join Eugene for dinner, please contact Pau S. Pujolas.
3rd Annual Conference of the Global Forum on Productivity Firms, Workers and Disruptive Technologies: Ensuring Sustainable and Inclusive Growth
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Ottawa, ON
Context
Over recent years, the world has seen a number of technological developments that have challenged the way our economies function. New technologies have brought dramatic changes in the way firms produce goods and services, organize their activities, and collaborate within innovation ecosystems. Nevertheless, these innovations have not yet translated into shared prosperity. Inequality is increasing and productivity growth remains sluggish in many of the advanced and emerging economies. Therefore, it is essential to understand the underlying factors of disruptive technologies and how policy can use them to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth.
Productivity Partnership Data Schools sessions at the Canadian Economics Association 2018
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Montréal, QC
The Productivity Partnership will again be hosting two data school sessions during the Canadian Economics Association 2018 Annual Meeting. The sessions will take place Sunday morning and will consist of information on microdata available at CDER/Statistics Canada and presentations from research projects funded by the Partnership.
Click 'Learn More' to find the exerpts from the Productivity Partnership-CSLS sessions which will take place on Saturday June 3 and the standalone Productivity Partnership sessions which will take place on Sunday June 4. The full program is on the Canadian Economics Association website.
2nd Annual Workshop of Southern Ontario Macro Economists (AWSOME Vol. 2).
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
Bringing together leading economists from universities across Southern Ontario
The Partnership is sponsoring a session at the second Annual Workshop of Southern Ontario Macro Economists (AWSOME) on productivity, with presentations by Michelle Alexopoulos (University of Toronto) on "Secular Stagnation, Technological Change and Productivity" and Tasso Adamopoulos (York University) on "Geography and Agricultural Productivity: Cross-Country Evidence from Micro Plot-Level Data".
A New Take on Innovation in Canada: Boosting the Demand Side
Thursday, May 17, 2018
National Arts Centre, Ottawa
The Productivity Partnership, in conjuction with the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs,and the Chair in the Creation, Development and Commercialization of Innovation presented a symposium looking at how to boost the demand side of innovation. Speakers included people from across academia, government departments and industry.
Productivity Partnership Mini-symposium on Gender and Productivity
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Kenneth Taylor Hall 334, McMaster University
The Productivity Partnership presents two speakers, Valentina Duque (University of Michigan) & Anne Brenoe (University of Copenhagen) who will talk about gender and productivity.
Statistics Canada: Socio-Economic Workshop - Leading-Edge Business Micro Data and Updates on Access
Monday, February 26, 2018
Ottawa, ON
The Canadian Centre for Data Development and Economic Research (CDER) will be hosting a socio-economic workshop on novel business micro data and updates on access on February 26th, 2018.
An update on the developments in regards to the type of data available in CDER and a sample of the work recently carried out in CDER using business microdata will also be presented. The topic of matched employer-employee data will also be covered, with presentations on the American and the Canadian experience. Finally, recent and upcoming microdata releases in various fields including globalization, manufacturing, and consumer prices, among others, will be described by Statistics Canada representatives.
Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor: Penny Goldberg
Friday, September 15, 2017
TBA
Time: 11:30-12:20, with lunch following
Speaker: Penny Goldberg, Yale University
Productivity Partnership Seminars, McMaster University
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
KTH 334, McMaster University, Hamilton ON
Adapting to within-country export barriers: Evidence from the Japan 2011 Tsunami
Speaker: Wessel Vermeulen, Newcastle University, London
Time: 12:30-1:20
CEA 2017: Data Schools
Sunday, June 4, 2017
St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia
The Productivity Partnership has organized two data school sessions at the Canadian Economics Association Conference. The two data sessions focus on applications of firm-level data and improving access to economic microdata in Canada.
CEA 2017: Research from the Productivity Partnership
Saturday, June 3, 2017
St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Please join the Productivity Partnership and learn more about current research coming from the Partnership.
Annual Workshop of Southern Ontario Macro Economists (AWSOME)
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
McMaster University
Great Hall of the University Club
On May 17th we will have the Annual Workshop of South Ontario Macro Economists (AWSOME) at McMaster University. AWSOME is organized by my colleagues Bettina Brüggemann, Alok Johri, Marc-André Letendre and Pau S. Pujolàs i Fons and is sponsored by the Econ Dept at McMaster and the Partnership to Study Productivity Firms and Incomes.
Data Day
Friday, March 24, 2017
Western University, London, Ontario
Speakers from across Canada present and discuss individual-level data, firm-level data, as well as data access and student opportunities.
Papers and Publications
May, 2020
We use longitudinal data from the income tax system to study the impacts of firms’ employment and wage-setting policies on the level and change in immigrant-native wage differences in Canada. We focus on immigrants who arrived in the early 2000s, distinguishing between those with and without a college degree from two broad groups of countries – the U.S., the U.K. and Northern Europe, and the rest of the world. Consistent with a growing literature based on the two-way fixed effects model of Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis (1999), we find that firm-specific wage premiums explain a significant share of earnings inequality in Canada and contribute to the average earnings gap between immigrants and natives. In the decade after receiving permanent status, earnings of immigrants rise relative to those of natives. Compositional effects due to selective outmigration and changing participation play no role in this gain. About one-sixth is attributable to movements up the job ladder to employers that offer higher pay premiums for all groups, with particularly large gains for immigrants from the “rest of the world” countries.
Author(s)
Benoit Dostie, Jiang Li, David Card, Daniel Parent
Related Data Sets
CEEDD
Related Research Themes
Incomes, International, Labour Markets
Data on businesses collected by statistical agencies are challenging to protect. Many businesses have unique characteristics, and distributions of employment, sales, and profits are highly skewed. Attackers wishing to conduct identication attacks often have access to much more information than for any individual. As a consequence, most disclosure avoidance mechanisms fail to strike an acceptable balance between usefulness and condentiality protection. Detailed aggregate statistics by geography or detailed industry classes are rare, public-use microdata on businesses are virtually inexistant, and access to condential microdata can be burdensome. Synthetic microdata have been proposed as a secure mechanism to publish microdata, as part of a broader discussion of how to provide broader access to such datasets to researchers.
In this article, we document an experiment to create analytically valid synthetic data, using the exact same model and methods previously employed for the United States, for data from two dierent countries: Canada (Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program (LEAP)) and Germany (Establishment History Panel (BHP)). We assess utility and protection, and provide an assessment of the feasibility of extending such an approach in a cost-eective way to other data.
Author(s)
M. Jahangir Alam, Benoit Dostie, Jörg Drechsler, Lars Vilhuber
Related Data Sets
LEAP
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Keywords: synthetic data; longitudinal business data; transferability of methods; confidentiality protection
May, 2019
February, 2019
We examine how immigrant employment enhances trade at the firm level using unique administrative matched employer-employee data from Canada. We augment a standard model of firms’ export market entry and sales decisions with trade costs that depend on destination-specific immigrant employment at the firm level. We estimate simple structural equations derived from the model that relate destination-specific exporting decisions to immigrant employment. We develop a method to deal with the potential endogeneity of immigrant employment that exploits the optimality conditions associated with the firm’s employment decision. We find positive and statistically significant effects of firm level immigrant employment on exporting. These effects vary with product type and immigrant employee characteristics in ways consistent with the idea that immigrant employees alleviate information barriers to trade.
Author(s)
Related Data Sets
CEEDD
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
January, 2019
August, 2018
It has been well established that international trade generates productivity gains within industries by reallocating inputs from low-productivity to high-productivity firms. However, the literature does not differentiate between young economies–that is, economies with a relatively large proportion of young firms–and old economies. To compare the productivity gains between young and old economies, I use European firm-level data during the period 2006 to 2014. The results of my study support the common finding in the extant literature that productivity gains are higher in any economy with more international trade. However, I also find that such gains are approximately five times higher for younger economies. I show that this is due to higher degrees of productivity dispersion within industries in younger economies.
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Keywords: International trade, Productivity, Reallocation, Firm age, Young economies
JEL Codes: F14, O47, O52
July, 2018
This study investigates whether the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) reduced resource misallocation in Canada. The implementation of CUSFTA can be viewed as a natural experiment, which makes it an ideal setting for estimating the causal effect of trade policy on the misallocation of resources. I perform this estimation using a dynamic panel data model with data from the Canadian Annual Surveys of Manufactures (ASM) for the period from 1980 to 1996. I use tariff rates from Trefler (2004) and measure resource misallocation using the dispersion in revenue total factor productivity (TFP) within industries. I find that CUSFTA did reduce resource misallocation by approximately four percent and, consequently, increased TFP by around four percent in Canada. This increase in TFP translates into a contribution of 23 percent to the overall TFP growth of Canada's manufacturing sector.
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Keywords: Misallocation, Trade policy, CUSFTA, Productivity
JEL Codes: O11, O47, F14, F13
April, 2018
This paper studies firm offshoring behaviour following the Canada-Peru Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) enactment in 2007. This is achieved by using confidential Statistics Canada firm tax filing microdata merged with raw firm-level import microdata. While in the aggregate data, there is a large increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by Canadian firms and a change in the composition of Canadian firm imports from Peru from raw unprocessed ore to manufactured metals, the microdata show that the change is not simply offshoring by individual firms. FDI into Peru was in mining as opposed to manufacturing. Moreover, firms that increased their Peru investment did not reduce their Canadian employment, nor were they the same firms with large increases in imports. Hence, these findings in the microdata show that the large increase in investment to Peru was not associated with offshoring of Canadian firms.
Author(s)
Stephanie Houle is a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics, McMaster University
Related Research Themes
International
Keywords: Investment Agreements, Multinational Firms, Offshoring, Foreign Direct Invest-ment
JEL Codes: F13, F23, F53, L23
October, 2017
Using a sample of only three countries, Hsieh and Klenow (2014) find that firms grow at a slower rate in poorer countries than in richer countries. This paper asks whether their results can be generalized using uniquely well-suited comparable data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys of 100 countries for 2006 to 2014. I confirm that firms in general grow at a slower rate in poorer than in richer countries. In addition, I establish that firm growth rate explains approximately 16 percent of GDP per capita variations.
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Keywords: Employment, Firm growth rate, Patterns, Firm age, GDP
JEL Codes: O11, O47
June, 2017
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CFA, CIP, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CFA, CIP, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Author(s)
Claudia De Fuentes and Jorge Niosi
Related Data Sets
SIBS
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Presented at CEA 2017: Research from the Productivity Partnership
Author(s)
Brian Lewis, Chief Economist and Assistant Deputy Minister Office of Economic Policy at Ontario Ministry of Finance
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Keywords: microdata, data access
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CFA, CIP, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Keywords: microdata, data access
Author(s)
Ted McDonald is a Professor at the University of New Brunswick.
Related Research Themes
International
Keywords: microdata, data access
March, 2017
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CIP, CFA, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Author(s)
Natalie Goodwin, Statistics Canada RDC Analyst, Western University RDC
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CFA, CIP, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Keywords: RDC
Outline
Accessing business microdata for research purposes at the Canadian Centre for Data Development and Economic Research (CDER) at Statistics Canada
- CDER basics
- Data sets available for access to CDER
- Application process
- Future directions
- Other information
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CFA, CIP, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Keywords: CDER; microdata; data access
August, 2015
This paper provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the effects of nominal exchange rate move-ments on cross-border travel by consumers and on retail firms’ sales. We develop a search-theoretic model of price-setting heterogeneous retailers and traveling consumers who face nominal exchange rate shocks. These exchange rate shocks act as both a supply side shock for retailers though imported input prices and a demand side shock though their effect on the propensity for consumers to cross the border and shop at foreign retail stores. The model provides predictions regarding relationships between firm and regional characteristics and the magnitude of the effects of nominal exchange rate fluctuations and resulting cross-border travel activity on retailers’ sales. We use our theoretical framework to motivate an empirical methodology applied to Canadian firm and consumer level data from 1987 to 2007. Our findings indicate that an appreciation of the Canadian dollar substantially increases cross border travel which in turn has a significant negative effect on the sales of Canadian retailers. These effects diminish with the distance of the retailer from the border and with the shopping opportunities available at relevant US destinations. Using counterfactual experiments, we quantify the effects of more restric-tive border controls after September 2001 which discouraged cross-border trips and reduced retailer losses from cross-border shopping as well as the effects of increased duty free allowances which raised cross-border trips and reduced retailer sales.
Author(s)
Jen Baggs is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria
Beverly Lapham is a Professor at Queen's University
Related Data Sets
T2-LEAP
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
Keywords: International Price Differences; Firm Dynamics; Exchange Rate Pass-Through; Cross-Border Shopping
JEL Codes: F10; F14; L81
May, 2015
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CFA, CIP, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Keywords: CDER; proposal
JEL Codes: Y9
Author(s)
Kim P. Huynh works at the Bank of Canada
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CFA, CIP, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets
Keywords: CDER; proposal; microdata
JEL Codes: Y9
May, 2014
Using German firm-level innovation survey data, I find that firms that vary in their export activity exhibit different innovation behaviour in a manner consistent with a life-cycle theory of the firm. By exploiting the pseudo-panel nature of the data, I use within-firm estimates to show that as firms become better exporters, their expenditure share on innovation increases and they perform more product innovation relative to process innovation. I also show that in stable exporting spells, firms' innovations are less likely to be for the purposes of expanding their product ranges, finding new target groups, and more likely to be for replacing discontinued products and reaching international markets. In addition, firms in stable exporting spells perform innovations that are less "new": these innovations are less likely to require patenting, registering of designs, research, and development. To frame the empirical evidence, I develop a dynamic trade model with innovation. Firms must go through an experimental stage to find their "ideal" product to produce. Firms can also engage in sustaining innovation, which will lower their probability of exogenously going out of business. I show that, under model parameter restrictions consistent with the empirical evidence, firms will only export after finishing their experimental stage. Exporters will be more likely to perform sustaining innovations, since the per-period profits are higher for exporting firms that have completed their experimentation phase.
Author(s)
Jeff Chan is an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier
Related Research Themes
Industry and Firm Analysis, International
May, 2013
The positive link between international trade and productivity is well established. However, research on magnitude and consequences of internal trade barriers, which inhibit the efficient geographic distribution of production within a country, is limited. Unique Canadian data provides an ideal opportunity to measure the magnitude - and impact on productivity - of barriers to internal trade. Using a flexible, micro-founded approach, we measure internal trade barriers between Canadian provinces. We find between-province trade costs average 30%, rising to nearly 50% in poor regions, net of distance effects. We then adapt a new-trade model to estimate the productivity impact of these barriers. Eliminating inter-provincial trade barriers increases productivity by over 15% in the median province and by over 8% for Canada as a whole, accounting for nearly half the productivity gap with the United States. For comparison, we find these benefits are larger than lowering international trade barriers by 20%. Internal trade barriers also account for over 40% of the regional income inequality across provinces. Using our flexible measure of trade costs between provinces over time, we can estimate the change in trade costs from changes in internal trade policies, such as the Agreement on Internal Trade. Preliminary results indicate average bilateral trade costs fell by slightly over 10% following implementation of the AIT.
Author(s)
Jennifer Winter
Trevor Tombe
Related Research Themes
International
Keywords: Internal trade; Productivity; Regional economics development
JEL Codes: F4; F1; R1
Despite the elimination of tariff barriers between Canada and the United States, the volume of trade between the two countries has been less than would be expected if there were no border. While considerable work has been done to gauge the degree of integration between the Canadian and U.S. economies through trade, relatively little analysis has parsed out the underlying costs for cross-border trade. The costs of crossing the border can be divided into formal tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers, and the cost of the transport system itself. This paper focuses on the latter by estimating the cost of shipping goods by truck between Canada and the U.S. during the 1994-to-2009 period, a period that encompasses the pre- and post 9/11 security regimes. The analysis assesses the degree to which costs to ship goods by truck to and from the U.S. exceed those within Canada by measuring the additional costs on a level and ad valorem basis. These costs are further broken down into fixed and variable (line-haul) costs. Higher fixed costs are consistent with border delays and border compliance costs that are passed on to the consumers of trucking services. Line-haul costs are influenced by difficulties finding backhauls for a portion of the round-trip that, in turn, may differentially affect the cost of the export and import legs of a cross border trip depending on the balance of truck-borne trade between the two countries.
Author(s)
Mark Brown
Related Research Themes
International
November, 2012
Author(s)
Statistics Canada
Related Data Sets
ASM, ASM-I, CBSA Customs, CEEDD, CFA, CIP, LEAP, LWF, NALMF, SFSME, SIBS, T2-LEAP, TEC, WES
Related Research Themes
Incomes, Industry and Firm Analysis, International, Labour Markets