Services in Economic Thought

Services today account for a major share of employment and national product in the U. S. , with the employment share up from 57 percent immediately post-war to well over 70 percent today (if communications, utilities and transportation are included). This transformation (which is also occurring with varying lags in the othereconomically advanced economies) is driven by a variety of forces : by changes in consumer demand, by the rising demand for health and educational services, by new ways in which businesses are organized and the increasing importance ofcertain functions (e. g. new demands for monitoring, financing, sales promotion, and responding to regulatory agencies), and, closely related, by the continuing advances in electronic technology. Moreover, these multiple transformations have been accompanied by changes in the way work is carried out (e. g. the dramatic increases in the utilization of white collar workers, particularly professionals and managers, and the employment of women and educated workers), and by shifts in the location of work and of the population (e. g. rising importance of key cities within the urban system and of suburbs generally). The role of services in modem capitalistic economies is not yet integrated into the body of economic theory, although the need for such integration, especially as regards theories ofgrowth, market structure, and pricing, is critical. Some economists and sociologists, however, have since the days of Adam Smith, dealt with certain aspects of the role of services.

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The growth of the services sector has profoundly transformed developed societies, their economic characteristics, their occupational structures, and even their political priorities and value systems. No comprehensive theory of his growth exists, but for three centuries a number of major economists and social scientists have sought to analyze and explain its characteristics, dimensions and consequences. This book is the first to survey and evaluate these theoretical contributions on services growth, from the mercantillists and classicists to contemporary works, those beginning with Fisher, Clark and Fourasite, and further developed by Fuchs, Bell, Baumol, Stanback, Gershuny, among others. Throughout this critical survey the major issues raised by the ongoing development of the services are pointed out: Are services a new engine for economic growth or 'nonproductive' deadweights? How should services be classified in order to better understand their social functions? What about their productivity and possible industrialization? Are services the basis for new social and human relationships? This book helps to shed theoretical light on these current controversies, which are among the most important at the present stage of our economic development.

Contenu
1 Introduction.- 2 Classical Doctrine On Services.- 1. From Productiveness in Fiscal Terms to Productiveness in Terms of Wealth.- 2. Services in Economic Theory During the First Half of the 19th Century.- 3. Summary of the Classical Theory on Services.- 3 Marx: Standard Theory and Potential Directions.- 1. The Approach Formulated by Marx.- 2. Services and Material Production with Marx.- 3. The Prerequisites of the Economic Structure in Marx's Theory of Productive Labour.- 4 All is Productive, All is Service.- 1. Economic Relations as Exchanges of Services.- 2. The Services in France around 1900 and the Treatment of Specific Service Activities: War and State.- 5 The Tertiary Sector and Post-Industrial Society.- 1. Youth and Maturity of the Idea of the Tertiary Sector.- 2. From Tertiary Sector to Services: Dominance and Diversity of Post-Industrial Concepts.- 6 Service Society Versus Neo-Industrialism.- 1. Anti-Bell: Jonathan Gershuny or the Dominance of Goods Over Services.- 2. Neo-Industrial Service Production.- 3. Conclusion: The Theory of Services, a Major Part of Our Understanding of Contemporary Society.- Author Index.