VANCOUVER—Erwin Diewert, professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia, and Emily Yu, economist at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, have been awarded the 2014 Addington Prize for Measurement presented by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

Diewert and Wu received the award for their work on measuring productivity, as explained in their paper New Estimates of Real Income and Multifactor Productivity Growth for the Canadian Business Sector, 1961-2011, published by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards.

Their work found that actual productivity growth in Canada was higher than formally reported. For example, over the past 50 years, traditional gross income multifactor productivity performance growth averaged 1.03 per cent per year—higher than the 0.28 per cent growth rate reported by Statistics Canada.

“Professor Diewert and Emily Yu have identified and offered solutions to problems in work associated with measuring income and productivity, and have therefore provided valuable insight for future research on measuring productivity,” said Jason Clemens, executive vice-president of the Fraser Institute.

The Addington Prize in Measurement is named after Raymond Addington, former chairperson of the Fraser Institute Board of Directors. The award recognizes a person (or team) who has developed a new, interesting and important concept in public policy, exemplifying the Institute’s motto: If it matters, measure it.

The winning paper was selected by a panel of academics chaired by Stephen Easton, professor of economics at Simon Fraser University and senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. Entries were judged on several criteria, including originality and significance of the ideas presented, persuasiveness of the argument, and integrity of the data.

The 2015 Addington Prize in Measurement will be open for nominations next fall.