Service sector development in Asia: an important instrument of growth

Abstract

The under‐developed service sector in Asia has the potential to become a new engine of economic growth for developing Asia, which has for a long time relied on export‐oriented manufacturing to power its growth. The study seeks to achieve three objectives. First, to provide a comprehensive analysis of the service sector by detailing industry trends, its growing importance to the region, its synergy with industry, and its ability to achieve more inclusive growth. Second, to highlight productivity concerns in the sector and propose relevant strategies for achieving greater productivity gains. Finally, to establish a set of policy provisions based around the infrastructural, human capital, and regulatory gaps that exist across the Asian service sector. Overall, the analysis provides substantial cause for optimism about the role of the service sector as an engine of growth in Asia.

The Service Sector and Carbon Emission Nexus: Revisiting Environmental Kuznets Curve

“…According to Marsiglio et al(2016) as the economic structure shift from high industry sector to the services sector will reduce the CO 2 emissions due to industry sector dominated by manufacturing activities while service sector partly reflected low polluting industries such as schools, hospitals, information, and communication technology (ICT), recreational and leisure, and government services. Nevertheless, as the services sector shifted more aggressive, it will tend to attract investment, promote trade, and urbanisation (Kim & Wood 2020) Turning to the control variables, consistent with Yassin and Aralas (2019b) the growth in urbanisation in Asian countries increased the CO 2 emissions. This implied that urban areas in Asian countries still highly dependent on the vast usage of energy, vehicles, and constructions that emitted emissions.…”

“…Secondly, to date, the Asian region is recognised to experience a rapid shift towards the service sector. In 2016, the service shares in the Asian region accounted for 54 per cent of total Asian output, which indicates the domination of the service sector and will become more prominent in the future (Kim & Wood 2020). Third, the scarcity of evidence on the role of the service sector in influencing CO 2 the emissions in Asian countries required serious academic attention.…”

Tracing the Trends in Sustainability and Social Media Research Using Topic Modeling

“…Sustainable tourism development is defined by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as a form of tourism development "that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities" [97]. The tourism development literature is vast, with a wide range of topics covered, such as tourism sustainability [98], indigenous tourism [99], cultural tourism [100], demand-based tourism development [101], tourism and regional economic development [102,103], and the impact of tourism development on the environment [104]. An emerging theme within the field has been the role that social media plays in driving sustainable tourism.…”

Digital Transformation as a Demographic and Economic Integrated Policy for Southeast Asian Developing Countries

“…As a policy recommendation, we suggest facilitating TFP growth through the implementation of strategic public policy initiatives that transform the region's service sectors and digital economy. Moving to such an economy can help address many of the chronic problems faced by developing countries in Southeast Asia, such as poor infrastructure, slow financial sector development, unbalanced trade and investment patterns, which concentrate only on the lower-skilled labor-intensive industries, poor institutional capacities, and lower levels of education attainment [4][5][6]. For example, upgrading the information and communication technology (ICT) industry and pursuing technological development through increased research and development (R&D) investment will enable the population, especially its younger generations, to become more familiar with and easily adopt new forms of technology, to access vocation training, E-commerce and online transactions, and work-at-home practices, etc.…”