Canada lags the U.S. in new capital per available worker, and the difference has increased substantially since the mid-2010s, to $11,700 by mid-2021, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. The Toronto-based think tank also estimates Canadian firms will spend just 58 per cent of the OECD average of $16,900 this year and $17,700 next. (The Logic)

Talking point: Flat or declining business investment and output growth are longstanding Canadian problems. Potentially more concerning for the country’s economic future: business investment has flagged most in the “categories most associated with innovation and future productivity,” per the study. Canadian firms have spent about $2,000 per worker on IP products—which include R&D, software and mineral exploration—for the last decade and a half, while the equivalent U.S. figure has jumped from $3,000 to over $8,000 a head. Both the Liberals and Conservatives have promised to reform the federal government’s main R&D incentive program, as well as measures to retain domestically developed IP.