Assessing the Impact of Greenhouse Gases Emissions on Canada's Productivity Growth, 1981 to 1996: An Experimental Approach

32 Pages Posted: 18 May 2009

See all articles by Tarek M. Harchaoui

Tarek M. Harchaoui

Statistics Canada - Microeconomic Analysis Division

Pierre Lasserre

University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) - Department of Economics; Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organization (CIRANO); University of Angers - Research Group in Quantitative Saving (GREQAM)

Date Written: November 1, 2002

Abstract

Despite the progress that has been made in the measurement of productivity, there have been few attempts to cast emissions of bad outputs within a joint-production framework. This paper does so. It proposes an experimental framework that depends critically on the shadow price estimates of emissions. These shadow price estimates result from the estimation of a cost function for each industry of the Canadian business sector. Using a detailed industry dataset that accounts for marketed output and greenhouse gases over the 1981-1996 period, our results suggest that the shadow values of greenhouse gas emissions are significantly different from zero. Our results also indicate that, under a non constant returns to scale technology, failing to account for greenhouse gas emissions understates productivity growth.

Keywords: shadow prices, greenhouse gases, productivity

JEL Classification: D24, O47, Q52, Q53, L16

Suggested Citation

Harchaoui, Tarek M. and Lasserre, Pierre, Assessing the Impact of Greenhouse Gases Emissions on Canada's Productivity Growth, 1981 to 1996: An Experimental Approach (November 1, 2002). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1403251 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1403251

Tarek M. Harchaoui (Contact Author)

Statistics Canada - Microeconomic Analysis Division ( email )

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613-951-9856 (Phone)

Pierre Lasserre

University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) - Department of Economics

Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organization (CIRANO)

University of Angers - Research Group in Quantitative Saving (GREQAM)

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