worker than canadian businesses have, and this gap has widened over the past decade ( chart 2 ). 4 the share of investment in information and communications technology ( ict ) equipment has also been lower in canada, and this gap has widened too ( chart 3 ). this is significant because research shows that ict investment has played an important role in driving productivity growth. 5 in addition, research shows that capital in the united states has moved to higherproductivity sectors in larger amounts than it has in canada. 6 in other words, us capital has been more nimble. chart 2 : business investment per worker is higher in the united states current prices, purchasing power parity adjusted for the united states, annual data can $ thousands sources : statistics canada, us bureau of economic analysis, us bureau of labor statistics and bank of canada calculations last observation : 2020 canada united states 3 as measured by the oxford covid - 19 government response tracker, the stringency index for the canadian government ’ s response over the course of the pandemic was higher, on average, at 65, than that for the us government, at 57. at the end of january 2022, covid - 19 deaths per million people were 886 in canada compared with 2, 656 in the united states. 4 chart 2 compares business investment per worker excluding the oil and gas sectors in both countries to make the industrial structures more comparable. if oil and gas are included, the widening of the gap is more pronounced in the last eight years. 5 see, for example, v. spiezia, “ ict investments and productivity : measuring the contribution of icts to growth, ” oecd journal : economic studies 2012, no. 1 ( december 2012 ) : 199 – 211 ; and a. colecchia and p. schreyer, “ ict investment and economic growth in the 1990s : is the united states a unique case? a comparative study of nine oecd countries, ” review of economic dynamics 5, no. 20 ( april 2002 ) : 408 – 442. 6 see l. shao and r. tang, “ allocative efficiency and aggregate productivity growth in canada and the united states, ” bank of canada staff working paper no. 2021 - 1 ( january 2021 ). - 4chart 3 : investment in ict in canada has lagged the united states percentage of gross fixed capital formation, annual data % canada united states sources : organisation for economic co - operation and development and bank

mr. thiessen discusses monetary policy and the canadian economy in a changing world text of the dr. harold walter siebens lecture delivered by the governor of the bank of canada, mr. gordon g. thiessen, to the fraser institute in vancouver on 6 / 3 / 97. the performance of the canadian economy is a popular topic these days. canadians wonder why our economy seems to have been struggling recently, turning in a lacklustre performance that has left the unemployment rate high and a significant margin of our production capacity unused. when people focus on the recent record of the canadian economy, they point in particular to the contrast with the united states where the economy has been operating at close to full capacity over the past couple of years. the united states is by far our most important trading partner. and in the past, economic developments in canada have tended to follow reasonably closely those in the united states. naturally, people want to know what is different this time. the fact that the canadian economy has not been expanding at a strong pace is also worrying to governments trying, as they are, to address budgetary problems. they are concerned that fiscal cutbacks may weaken the economy further. of course in all of this, questions are also raised about the role of monetary policy. i would like to take this opportunity today to discuss the factors that have affected the recent performance of the canadian economy, to explain the role that monetary policy has played, and to conclude with some comments on our future economic prospects. the canadian economy in a changing world environment the world economy has been going through profound changes. many developing countries have embraced open markets and international trade as a means of accelerating their economic progress. deregulation and privatization initiatives have been undertaken by both developing and industrial countries, typically as part of structural adjustment programs to improve economic performance. technological changes have reduced the cost of capital relative to labour, encouraging businesses to use more physical capital, in particular more computers and computer - based equipment. and there has been an accompanying shift in the demand for labour away from unskilled workers. these technological innovations, along with reductions in transportation and communications costs, have also made possible a wider geographic dispersion of the production process - - not just nationally but internationally. and to ensure access to foreign markets, countries have been pursuing multilateral and regional trading arrangements. as a result, all nations have been adjusting to the new reality of heightened international competition and to the accompanying substantial shifts in the location of production of many goods