Looking for a virtuous pattern of growth. Some insights for discussion
This paper addresses the current <manufacturing versus services> debate in relation to the question of how to unlock renewed economic growth, taking as point of departure the EC Communication For a European Industrial Renaissance. We present two criteria with which to evaluate the grounds for supporting economic sectors (either manufacturing or services) 1 The capacity to generate employment and 2 The ability to display a positive rate of productivity growth. The highly disaggregated PREDICT database is used in order to evaluate both sectors on these criteria. Our paper concludes that service sectors fulfil both of the above mentioned criteria, whereas manufacturing sectors do not. The importance of service and manufacturing sub sectors rooted in ICT and non ICT R&D intensive activities is also highlighted.