Service activities in developing countries [antikvár]

Chapter I INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND For some years the OECD Development Centre has been studying the methods used for preparing national accounts estimates in developing countries- Since 196? the Centre has held ^ study sessions at which national accountants from the developing world and experts from international organisations and bilateral aid agencies have been invited to discuss practical aspects of national accounts work and its relevance to development planning. In addition the Centre publishes, on a regular basis, a series of bulletins giving up--to^^date information on the national accounts of developing countries together with details of the methodologies and possible sources of error(1). The present study is the first of a series which will deal with practical problems of estimating various components of the national accounts. Others planned for the near future will cover non-monetary (or "subsistence") activities and capital formation. This first report deals with the "services sector" and is intended to complement the recent series of Development Centre studies into employment problems in, developing countries. The first report in the employment series(2) concluded that "with regard to the general importance of service activities in less developed areas,, the paucity of relevsLnt studies, either empirical or theoretical, is little short of astonishing". The scope of this study has therefore been widened to include data on employment and productivity in service activities, as well as an analysis of the methods used for estimating service output.