The rise of the service economy has been the predominant pattern of structural change in the twentieth century. This article investigates the driving forces behind the recent stages of this development. Focusing on international input - output data from the early 1970s to the 1990s, a...

The last century has witnessed dramatic changes in the world economy. The service (tertiary) sector, which at the beginning of the 20th century was of little importance relative to agriculture and manufacturing, has become the dominant sector today, accounting for 80% and more of value added in...