The Services Sector In The Economic Development Of Countries

THE SERVICES SECTOR IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRIES

The services sector is of great importance in the process of economic development of the countries. Authors such as Clark (1940), Kuznets (1957) and Chenery (1960) establish the importance of reallocating the agriculture work factor towards industrial and services sectors, exemplifying it through the increase in employment from 1870 to 1970 passing from 20% to 40% of total employment (Kongsamut et al, 2001). It is inevitable that the services sector acquires greater importance as a country develops and experiences a structural change in its production.

One of the most settled evidences currently in economic development is the positive relationship between the proportion of the services sector on GDP and GDP per capita. In addition, in developed countries, as is the case of the United States, the production of services has more than 3 quarters of GDP and similar figures in terms of employment (Triplett and Bosworth, 2004). Although this relationship is empirically demonstrated, not all economists find the same behavior in economies. For example, in some cases it is found that the relationship between the previously mentioned variables is concave (Chenery and Syrquin, 1975), that is, the proportion increases with the GDP per capita, but at a slowdown growth rate. On the other hand, other authors do find a linear and positive trend between both variables (Buera and Kaboski, 2012). Anyway, it is clear that both variables are positively related, so that the proportion of the economy services can be essential in achieving economic development.

However, not all countries show the same development in this sector. Eichern and Gupta (2011) identify two different groups when dealing with the development of services, the group of countries with low levels of per capita income and the countries with the highest income. The development of the first group is starring the so -called traditional services (lodging, cleaning, hospitality, etc.), while the second group is mainly composed of services that are more open to the implementation of technological innovations and are also more commercialized (finance, telecommunications, computer, legal, etc.).

In this way, it is important that the appropriate commercial policy in each country be applied properly, without generalizations. In countries not so high levels of income, it would not make sense to apply the same policies that are applied in those high -income countries. On the other hand, in the same study it is that among the high -income countries the behavior remains heterogeneous. It seems to be intuited that in those countries that are more open to international trade and that are closer relatively to large global financial centers, they experience higher rates. Therefore, in the countries with the highest income, the promotion of the trade of services and the adaptation of commercial policy in this regard can even be most important.