ABSTRACT
This chapter explores in more detail the multiple trends of tertiarization among different groups of countries around the globe. It provides an overview of the most current state of the art tertiarization research in the midst of global change. Three-sector theory (TST) depicts an evolutionary development where the focus of economic activity shifts from the primary sector, through the secondary sector, and finally to the tertiary sector. China started its own “development miracle,” giving rise to a peculiar pattern of simultaneous industrialization and tertiarization efforts, differing from the prescriptions of TST, that is, the idea that a traditional rural sector would be gradually replaced by a growing manufacturing and service economy. The tertiarization of the world economy has unfolded as a multifaceted process, reflective of a set of historical, socioeconomic, and institutional factors in different parts of the world, showing substantial differences in productivity, level of labor skill, growth level of value added, and value of gross output.
