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Abstract
Many policy makers today take for granted that economic deregulation yields net benefits to industry,
particularly with respect to helping improve productivity and efficiency. Certain structural issues
about industrial deregulation are not well understood, including the impact of technical change or
innovation. In this paper, we measure the extent to which innovation affected productivity within
the Canadian for-hire trucking industry during deregulation. Using a unique data set spanning the
trucking deregulation era in Canada, non-parametric Malmquist productivity indices are computed
and de-composed. Results of the analysis indicate that the industry was affected by deregulation in
a manner consistent with public policy goals.