FINANCES OF THE NATION: THE CANADIAN PRODUCTIVITY LANDSCAPE-AN OVERVIEW

For almost 60 years, the Canadian Tax Foundation published an annual monograph, Finances of the Nation, and its predecessor; The National Finances. In a change of format, the 2014 Canadian Tax Journal introduced a new "Finances of the Nation" feature, which presents annual surveys of provincial and territorial budgets and topical articles on taxation and public expenditures in Canada. It is widely recognized that Canada's productivity performance in recent years has been at best mediocre. But productivity is a complex issue, and the public understanding of the subject, even among professionals, is poor. The objective of this article is to provide a comprehensive but accessible account of the productivity landscape in Canada, including productivity developments and proximate explanations of trends. The article provides an overview of the basic concepts, metrics, trends, and types of analysis found in productivity discussion in this country. The underlying data for the Finances of the Nation monographs and for the articles in this journal will be published online in the near future.