There is a widespread perception that the Republic of Korea's service sector lags behind its dynamic world-class manufacturing sector. We empirically analyze the past performance of the Republic of Korea's service sector in order to assess its prospects as an engine of growth. Our analysis...

This paper considers unit labor costs (ulcs), i.e., the ratio of the wage rate to labor productivity, as the indicator of competitiveness in the Philippines. It is shown that ulcs have an interpretation from the point of view of the functional distribution of income (i.e., the distribution of...

The focal issue of this investigation is whether the rising services sector would contract cost disease and stagnate economic growth in People's Republic of China (PRC), as diagnosed generally of tertiarization in Baumol's unbalanced growth model. Using provincial panel data for 1985-2001, the...

Cambodia's growth in the last 20 years has been remarkable and the lives of its people have improved substantially. But low-cost labour advantages on a narrow economic base have driven this growth. The country now needs to move beyond the four sectors that have dominated its economy: garment...