Consumer Services have been viewed as parasitic activities, dependent on other sectors of the economy for their viability and vitality. Yet local economic policy is now looking towards consumer services to solve severe economic problems. The rapid expansion of the service sector is now a principal feature of contemporary global economic restructuri

Acclaim for the first edition: ÔThis is a well-written, provocative book, featuring much new material, original data analyses and interesting insights. Despite the proliferation of books on various aspects of services, there is nothing quite like it around. In particular, examination of the challenges that the growth of services presents to conventional economics is very valuable.Õ Ð Ian Miles, University of Manchester, UK ÔThis is an intriguing book that contains many interesting ways of conceptualising service from the perspective of economics. It makes a number of important contributions to the academic literature. It is one of the very few books and it might even be the only book to be written by an economist on the economics of services Ð it is thus a pioneer work and is of value in that it attempts to bring together the work that economists have done on services.Õ Ð John Bryson, University of Birmingham, UK Despite the fact that services have overtaken industry in terms of employment and GDP in developed countries, rigorous economic study of the service sector remains seriously neglected. The first edition of The Economics of Services initiated a redress of this oversight. Fully revised and updated, the second edition of this highly acclaimed textbook should be required complimentary reading to mainstream microeconomics textbooks for graduate students of economics and for advanced courses in labour, urban and regional economics, economic geography and economic history. The text emphasizes the distinction between intermediate producer services and final consumer services. Many of the former are traded in global markets much like material goods in general, whilst the markets for consumer services are markedly local. This requires quite different micro-foundations in each case. Other key issues explored include the productivity development and quality of service measurements, and the key role of urbanization for service sector growth. The critical issues for the future of the real economy beyond the financial crisis are also analysed in depth, and the author illustrates how a better understanding of the nature of the service economy is necessary for policy innovation with a view to regenerating the welfare state.

This text seeks to raise the curtain on competitive pricing strategies and asserts that businesses often miss their best opportunity for providing consumers with what they want - an experience. It presents a strategy for companies to script and stage the experiences provided by their products.

This book examines how markets have evolved and provides insights for improved consumer policy making. It explores, for the first time, how what we have learned through the study of behavioural economics is changing the way policy makers are addressing problems.

Consumer Services and Economic Development evaluates the role of consumer services as motors for local economic development in contemporary advanced economies. The contributions that specific consumer service industries are making to local economic development are analysed. Tourism, sports, universities, retailing and the cultural industries are each examined in turn. Following this, the roles that the consumer services sector are playing in economic regeneration are investigated in a number of different contexts: a global city; several contrasting urban areas; and a rural locality. In each case, whether consumer services have taken a lead or supportive role in local economic development is surveyed, and their effectiveness in promoting economic regeneration is evaluated. This book dispels the common myth that consumer services are residual activities dependent upon other economic sectors for their vitality and viability. Providing a comprehensive overview and evaluation of the contributions of the consumer services sector to economic development, this book reveals the need for a fundamental reconceptualization of both the function of services in particular and economic development theory and practice more generally.