Pro-Productivity Policies: Country Experiences Series

The Productivity Institute has launched a major new series of research papers examining how different countries have developed and implemented policies to influence productivity growth over the past six decades.

Pro-productivity Policies

Given the central role of productivity in driving economic growth and development, governments around the world have been actively exploring and implementing a broad range of policies to enhance productivity performance.

Recent work by The Productivity Institute has introduced a typology of pro-productivity policies, providing a structured framework for understanding these efforts. Building on this foundation, TPI commissioned 17 country studies (13 of which focus on G20 nations) conducted by leading experts with deep knowledge of each country’s policy landscape. These studies examine six decades of productivity-related policymaking, extracting key lessons and offering insights into future directions.

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Current publications

The initial findings will be published as part of TPI’s Insights Papers series, beginning with:

• Pro- and Anti-Productivity Policies in Brazil: Resource Allocation and Business Dynamism 
  Fernanda De Negri, Luiz Ricardo Cavalcante
• Can a Lack of Pro-Productivity Policies Explain the Secular Decline in Canada’s Productivity Growth?
  Andrew Sharpe, Stephen Tapp

These two papers set the stage for a broader comparative analysis across 17 economies, exploring how policy choices, institutional settings and economic conditions have shaped productivity outcomes over time.

Future publications

Additional country studies will be released between November 2025 and January 2026, offering a comprehensive, cross-country perspective on what works – and what doesn’t – when it comes to productivity policymaking.

A condensed volume, featuring shorter versions of these papers, will be published by Routledge later in 2026, edited by TPI Managing Director Bart van Ark and Research Fellow Dirk Pilat.

Through this international research initiative, The Productivity Institute aims to advance understanding of the role of public policy in shaping long-term productivity performance, and to provide evidence-based insights to guide future strategies for inclusive and sustainable growth.