Producer Services Research in U.S. Regional Studies

Abstract

Fifteen years of academic concern about the extent, causes, and implications of the explosion of service activities as a proportion of regional and national employment and income have verified the increased proportion of employment in these activities, their tendencies toward concentration, their structural role in local economies, their potential to form part of a region's economic base, and their importance in assisting other activities in the regional economy. There has been some progress in modeling the locational needs of intermediate or producer services. Beyond this progress, however, lies much uncharted territory. This paper makes recommendations for the direction of basic research and of policy-oriented work.

Key Words:

• producer services
• regional development
• service sector
• United States