Many economists bemoan India’s strength in producing services and weaknesses in producing goods. It is argued that the only trajectory of development is one where a country graduates from agriculture to industry to services. Stephen Broadberry and Bishnupriya Gupta of the University of Warwick have a fascinating piece on voxeu on this, where they point out that India’s strengths in services production go back to the late 19th century. Based on an analysis of data over 1870-2000, they say: Only in services has there been an improvement in comparative India/UK labour productivity, from around 15% in the late nineteenth century to around 30% by the end of the twentieth century. Services have thus played a positive role in Indias productivity performance throughout the period, limiting Indian relative decline before 1870 and leading the process [...] Read full story