Resource Specialization and Economic Performance: A Canadian Case Study, 1970-2005.

The main objective of this paper is to identify the channels through which specialization in resource-intensive production had an impact on the performance of the aggregate Canadian economy over the 1970-2005 period. As a whole, the Canadian resource sector appears to have been making substantial direct and indirect contributions to aggregate economic performance since 1970, and we can find little evidence of strong or consistent crowding-out effects. There are, however, some important caveats. In particular, the significance of the resource sector's contributions was strongly influenced by the key role played by the energy extraction industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]