Developing the Service Sector as Engine of Growth for Asia: An Overview

Marcus Noland, Donghyun Park and Gemma Estrada ()

No 320, ADB Economics Working Paper Series from Asian Development Bank

Abstract: The maturing of the manufacturing sector in many Asian countries, combined with the relative backwardness of its service sector, has made service sector development a top priority for developing Asia. Our central objective is to broadly survey and analyze the current landscape of the region’s service sector so as to assess its potential to serve as an engine for inclusive economic growth. Our analysis indicates that services are already an important source of output, growth, and jobs in the region. However, its productivity greatly lags that of the advanced economies, which implies ample room for further growth. The impact of service sector on poverty reduction is less clear but we do find some limited evidence of a poverty reduction effect. One key challenge for all Asian countries is to improve the quality of service sector data. Overall, while service sector development is a long and challenging process, creating more competitive services markets by removing a wide range of internal and external policy distortions is vital for improving service sector productivity. As important as such policy reforms are, complementary investments in physical infrastructure and human capital will also be necessary to achieve a strong service sector.

Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2012-11-30
Note: http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/pub/2012/economics-wp320.pdf
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.adb.org/publications/developing-servic ... growth-asia-overview Full text (text/html)

Related works:
Working Paper: Developing the Services Sector as Engine of Growth for Asia: An Overview (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:adbewp:0320

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ADB Economics Working Paper Series from Asian Development Bank 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Orlee Velarde ().