SERVICE SECTOR LABOR PRODUCTIVITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ECUADOR

This article analyzes the relationship between the services sector and Ecuadorian economic growth using cointegration and causality econometric techniques from 1990-2018. The results indicate that services as a whole, particularly trade and transportation, positively impact economic growth in the long run. However, in the short term, services as a whole have a negative effect, which may be explained by the continuous deterioration of their productivity. Meanwhile, there is a causality effect ranging from trade to economic growth, and from GDP per capita to services as a whole and transportation.