Welcome to the Centre for the Study of Living Standards
Contact Information 151 Slater Street, Suite 710
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H3
CANADA
Tel: +1.613.233.8891
Fax: +1.613.233.8250
E-mail: info@csls.ca
The Centre for the Study of Living Standards is a non-profit, national, independent organization that seeks to contribute to a better understanding of trends in and determinants of productivity, living standards and economic and social well-being through research.
Announcements & Recent Releases
The Centre for the Study of Living Standards is seeking an economist. The position may be staffed at the junior or senior level and on a contract or permanent basis. More information on the position is available here.
On December 21, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released the Fall issue of the International Productivity Monitor. This issue contains five articles: an introductory piece dissecting where Canada's productivity problem really lies; an investigation of the relationship between innovation and productivity in Canadian manufacturing establishments; an examination of the phenomenon of deindustrialization of the manufacturing sector in the context of Sweden; a detailed examination of the industry contributions to real GDP growth and labour productivity growth in Canada and the United States; and an overview of productivity trends in the Canadian agricultural sector over the last half century. A press release for this publication is available here.
On December 7, 2011 the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released a major study “Measuring the Contribution of Modern Biotechnology to the Canadian Economy". Using an income-based methodology, the report estimates that the value added of biotechnology activities was approximately $15 billion in 2005, equivalent to 1.19 per cent of nominal GDP. The reports forecasts that the role of biotechnology in the economy will increase substantially in the future years and by 2030 will represent $144 billion. A press release is available for this report.
On September 19, 2011 the Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) released a volume entitled New Directions for Public Policy in Canada: Papers in Honour of Ian Stewart. In his work as a public servant Ian Stewart brought a strong analytical focus to the role of the state. To extend this tradition, leading economists were commissioned to address specific policy issues from the perspective of intelligent policy. Contributors are Robin Boadway, Scott Clark, David Dodge, Don Drummond, Pierre Fortin, John Helliwell, Lars Osberg, Christopher Ragan, John Richards, Munir Sheikh, Stanley Winer, and Michael Wolfson. Hard copies of the volume can be purchased for $20 CAD (including HST and handling) here. Videos of speeches from the festschrift dinner in honour of Ian Stewart on September 16 and David Dodge’s presentation of the festschrift volume to Dr. Stewart are available here.
On September 6, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released the Autumn 2011 issue of its newsletter CSLS NEWS. It provides information on recent and upcoming CSLS events, including the festschrift dinner in honour of Ian Stewart, as well as the findings of recent and upcoming CSLS research reports and research notes. In this issue, the CSLS also welcomes its two new board members, Fred Gorbet and Chris Ragan.
On August 30, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released a report entitled Human Capital and Productivity in British Columbia. This report, prepared for the BC Progress Board, provides an assessment of human capital development in British Columbia. The province’s performance is above average according to the majority of the indicators analyzed, relative to both the rest of Canada and other OECD countries. However, this does not mean that there is no room for improvement.
A press release is available from the BC Progress Board.
On August 29, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released a report entitled The Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being: Estimates for Canada, 1999 and 2005. The report develops estimates of the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-being (LIMEW) for Canada in order to estimate the average Canadian household’s total command over economic resources. This report indicates that the LIMEW in Canada grew modestly between 1999 and 2005 at 1.08 per cent per year.
The press release is available here.
On July 22, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards announced that a dinner will be held on September 16, 2011 in honour of long-time CSLS Chair Ian Stewart on the occasion of his 80th birthday. The CSLS is honouring his distinguished professional career as an economic researcher and policy adviser with the release of a festschrift volume, New Directions for Intelligent Government in Canada. The dinner, which will also be the official release of the festchrift volume, will take place on Friday, September 16, 2011 in the Laurier Room at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, beginning at 7 PM, with registration and a reception starting at 6 PM. More information on the festschrift volume is available here.
The price for the dinner is $90 (including HST) per person. This includes a copy of the festschrift volume. You may register for the dinner by paying for admission here.
On July 6, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released three new research reports.
The first, "State of the Evidence on Health as a Determinant of Productivity," finds little evidence that Canada’s poor productivity performance since 2000 – both in historical terms and relative to the United States since 2000 – can be explained by a deterioration of the health of Canadians.
On May 18, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released the Spring issue of the International Productivity Monitor. This issue contains five articles on: productivity and economic growth in Europe; productivity growth in the Canadian transportation equipment industry; differences in the provinces’ productivity performance over the 1997-2007 period; parallels between Latin America’s and Canada’s productivity performance; and the effects of the ageing of the workforce on productivity. A press release for this publication is available here.
On May 18, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released ten reports outlining the productivity performance of each province over the 1997-2007 period. The reports discuss growth rates and levels of labour, capital, and multifactor productivity for the provinces’ market sector as a whole, as well as at the two-digit NAICS level. A synthesis of the ten reports was also released and can be found here.
The Centre for the Study of Living Standards has organized four sessions for this year's Canadian Economic Association Annual Conference, June 2-5, in Ottawa. The titles of the CSLS sessions are:
New Insights into Productivity Growth in Canada
Panel on Explaining the Growing Canada-US Productivity Gap
Selected Papers from the Ian Stewart Festschrift New Directions for Intelligent Government in Canada
New Measures of Well-being for Canada
A full program of the Centre's sessions can be found here.
Details about the CEA 45th Annual Conference can be found on the CEA website.
On March 31, 2011, the Bertelsmann Foundation released its 2011 Sustainable Governance Indicators report. The CSLS contributed to the report on Canada. In terms of the Sustainable Governance Status Index, Canada fell from 6th place in 2009 to 7th place in 2011 (out of 31 countries). More information on the Sustainable Governance Index is available on the SGI website.
On February 10, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released a major report on university-business research collaboration in Canada and three reference countries: the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. The report, by CSLS Senior Research Associate Ian Currie, finds that Canadian businesses rely more on the higher education sector than businesses in other major OECD countries for R&D, but government policies can be strengthened to extract more economic and social value. Press Release.
On February 7, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released a synthesis of the CSLS-ICP Conference on Happiness and Public Policy held on December 1, 2010, at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa. The synthesis provides an overview of the seven sessions of the conference and it reinforces that there are varying views on the interface between happiness research and public policy decisions. Public policy experts expressed more skepticism than researchers regarding how it will be incorporated into decision making at this time. The synthesis of the conference is available here.
On February 7, 2011, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards released a report summarizing the services offered by private sector electronic labour exchances (ELEs) in Canada and the extent to which ELEs are being used in the Canadian labour market to match jobseekers and employers. The report finds that there is a robust private sector in ELE services in Canada. The private sector provides a broader range of services than the main public sector alternative, Job Bank. However, the report recommends that the public sector, through Job Bank, should build on its strength in providing ELE services targetted at low-skill workers and small businesses to address shortcomings in the private sector rather than duplicate their services. The report is available here.
