Long-term Inflationary Services and the Problem of Sectorial Measurement in National Accounts : An Analysis of the American Case

Deindustrialization is on the spot, again. The anachronism between the real economy and the way SNA accounts manufacturing and services has led economic research to render a new world with old premises. This paper aims to review statistical data upon its factual structure and to answer the following question: Did the manufacturing sector indeed lose room for the services sector? We offer evidence that the so-called American deindustrialization is, at least in part, a result of relative prices dynamics underneath manufacturing and services progress over time. We also find evidence that the deflationary pattern of the manufacturing sector does not necessarily imply a less relevant role in the economy. Ricardo's pricing theory, the Kaldor-Verdoorn's Law, Baumol's Disease and the symbiotic and synergetic relationship between manufacturing and services help explain that price dynamics