• BLOG SURF
NOVEMBER 28
As development economists, we are taught to measure a phenomenon by using various techniques to look at cause and effect to subsequently make policy recommendations. But the first step is to know what we are measuring even if we can't see it.
Services-its measurement and contribution to growth across South Asia-has somehow defied convention and has had us economists in a fix for a while now. It's kind of like being in a jetlagged stupor and looking for lost house keys under the streetlamp, because that is the only place anything is visible at all. We have applied the same sets of tools to measure the productivity of services as we use to measure the productivity of manufactured goods, just because they are there at our disposal.
However, our latest South Asia Economic Focus takes the services bull by the hornto paint a detailed picture of its role in the region's economic growth. Even though services contribute immensely to other sectors all over the world, including manufacturing, they are continually underappreciated.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 29, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
