Managing the Service Economy: Prospects and Problems Prospects and Problems

These essays discuss the service sector, an often neglected area of economic study. The contributors agree that services are replacing manufacturing as the employment base in more advanced economies. Their essays provide valuable insight into the causes, problems and prospects of this transition. Commissioned for the Wharton-ARA Conference on the Service Economy, this collection examines the rise of the prevailing economic order in the United States, Japanese, and international economies and the future and potential of the service sector. The volume concludes with an agenda for future research and policy of the service company.

Foreword; Acknowledgments; Introduction and overview Robert P. Inman; Part I. Role of Service in World Economics: 1. Services in the international economy Robert Summers; Comment Jere R. Behrman; 2. Services in the Japanese economy Gary R. Saxonhouse; Comment Hugh Patrick; 3. Services in the US economy Irving Leverson; Comment Duncan Mann; Open discussion; Part II. Service Productivity, Trade, and Market Structure: 4. Measurement of output and productivity in the service sector John W. Kendrick; Comment William J. Baumol, Charles R. Hullen and Janet L. Norwood; 5. Services in world transactions Irving B. Kravis; 6. US trade policy and international service transactions Helena Stalson; Comment Joan E. Spero; 7. The provision of services in a market economy Bergt Holmstrom; Comment Andrew Postlewaite; Open discussion; Part III. Analyses of Service Industries: The Finance, Health Care, and Government Sectors: 8. The future for financial services Fischer Black; Comment Irwin Friend and Mark J. Flannery; 9. Competition and equilibrium as a driving force in the health services sector Mark A. Satterwaite; Comment Jeffrey Harris; 10. Government services Edward M. Granlich; Comment Robert P. Inman; Open discussion; Part IV. The Future of Research and Policy for the Service Economy: 11. Productivity policy and the service sector William J. Baumol; 12. An agenda for research on the service sector Victor R. Fuchs; Open discussion; Author index; Subject index.

These essays discuss the service sector and how it seems to be replacing manufacturing as the employment base in more advanced economies. They provide valuable insight into the causes, problems and prospects of this transition.