## When it Comes to Services vs. Manufacturing, Words Matter

_IMF Blog, February 16, 2021_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [When it Comes to Services vs. Manufacturing, Words Matter](https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2021/02/16/when-it-comes-to-services-vs-manufacturing-words-matter)

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Reda Cherif, Fuad Hasanov
- Published: February 16, 2021

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### Overview
- Authors: Reda Cherif, Fuad Hasanov
- Publication date: February 16, 2021
- Context: Chart of the Week; Industrial sector
- Data covered: IMF country reports from 1978 to 2019

### Methodology
- Textual analysis across IMF country reports from 1978 to 2019.
- Vocabulary: 113 distinct terms related to growth theory and policy (examples include “infrastructure” and “liberalization”).
- Computation: relative weights of each term across countries and years.

### Key findings
- “Services” is the single most-used term among the 113 terms analyzed.
- Across all countries and years, “services” comprises about 20 percent of the occurrences of all terms.
- Tourism receives particularly high attention within services.
- Term frequency ranking (summary):
  - “Services” — most frequent.
  - “Agriculture” and “agricultural” — second most frequent.
  - “Industry” and “industrial” — next most frequent.
  - “Manufacturing” — appears only 2 to 5 percent of the time, depending on the income group (5 percent for advanced economies).
- “Manufacturing” appears less often than terms such as “institutions,” “privatization,” and “infrastructure.”
- The predominance of services in IMF reports has persisted for more than four decades and is consistent across income groups, including periods when manufacturing accounted for a much larger share of production and employment in many countries.

### Implications and outlook
- COVID-19 impact:
  - COVID-19 has dealt a heavy blow to the service sector, especially tourism.
  - Many companies have adapted by taking their services online.
- With the shift to digital, the service sector is expected to play an increasingly vital role in many countries’ economic growth post-COVID-19.
- For the foreseeable future, services are likely to remain a central topic in IMF reporting and economic discourse.

### Engagement
- The authors invite reader feedback via a 3-question survey on IMFBlog.

*IMF Blog — When it Comes to Services vs. Manufacturing, Words Matter; Reda Cherif and Fuad Hasanov; February 16, 2021.*

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## References

- [combed through](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2020/11/08/Crouching-Beliefs-Hidden-Biases-The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Growth-Narratives-49730)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2021/02/16/when-it-comes-to-services-vs-manufacturing-words-matter_