Hi Paul, it was pointed out to me off-list that my last example, with
Jennifer being a programmer, might be a bad example. I did cover my
butt by specifying that only tables and shoes constituted tangible
assets (besides cash), but intuitively we both know that sometimes
programmers produce a tangible RE-saleable product; as opposed to
maintainance programming and such. Instead of worrying about whether
this is a "quasi-service" job, just change the example to any "pure"
service job: a car repairman, insurance sales, hairdresser, dentist,
broadway actor, restaurant worker, checkout clerk, on and on. Use
these as examples of "service" and the example will be crystal clear.
I know that I'm a terrible explainer, so I went googling to see if I
could find something better for you. I found an article titled
"Wealth of This Nation" by Diane Alden. Here's a snippet:
"Why does no one recognize the difficulty in a service-based economy
being nontransferable in trade with other countries? Whatever happened
to making "stuff" to create wealth?"
It's actually a two part article, and I skimmed through it. I think
you would really enjoy it--it's not an economics text; it's an
interesting read. I'll give a link to the second part of the article,
because that's where I grabbed the snippet.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/11/160654.shtml
John
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