Services, Manufacturing and Productivity

Issues Paper No. 9

This issues paper tries to tease out more detailed information from the WTO-OECD Trade in Value Added (TiVA) database to understand how important services is in APEC economies by analyzing quantitatively the various aspects through which services could contribute to their economies’ exports such as via direct exports as well as indirectly via manufacturing or other services sectors’ exports. Specifically on services’ role in manufacturing, the paper attempts to explore the link between services and manufacturing productivity. Business services, it appears, is a dominant services input in manufacturing and is discussed in the paper in greater length, where regulations that are likely to affect the provision of these services negatively are identified. The paper concludes with implications for trade policy.