Sep 10, 2026 · 24 min · 9 segments
Manufacturing and industrialization have long been the development strategy for many countries in Asia. But while the approach has spurred growth and lifted millions out of poverty, most jobs remain…
Dani RodrikGuest
Bruce EdwardsHost
I don't think I'd be sticking my neck out to say that development doesn't happen without jobs.
If you look at an advanced country like the United States and project what are going to be the 10 largest occupations in the U.S. economy 10 years from now, only two require college education.
The rest, which is in care, in retail, in warehouses, they don't require college education.
And if this is true for today's advanced countries, imagine what it's going to be like in developing countries as well.
I'm professor of international political economy at Harvard Kennedy School and also co-direct the Reimagining the Economy program, where we're looking at how to promote productive structural transformation in a more inclusive manner around the world.
Danny Roderick is also a co-author, along with Gordon Hanson and Rohan Sandhu, of an article titled Rethinking Development, published in the September edition of Finance and Development magazine.
Alright, so I'd like to start out here with something that comes up actually at the end of your F&D article and that is this idea that the bulk of jobs in developing economies are in the non-traded services sector and Any development plan that doesn't consider that reality is in trouble.
So is development's shortcomings over the last few decades been about failing to recognize the importance of that sector? Or is it more about the approach that it's taken to try and support it?
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I don't think I'd be sticking my neck out to say that development doesn't happen without jobs.
If you look at an advanced country like the United States and project what are going to be the 10 largest occupations in the U.S. economy 10 years from now, only two require college education.
The rest, which is in care, in retail, in warehouses, they don't require college education.
And if this is true for today's advanced countries, imagine what it's going to be like in developing countries as well.
I'm professor of international political economy at Harvard Kennedy School and also co-direct the Reimagining the Economy program, where we're looking at how to promote productive structural transformation in a more inclusive manner around the world.
Danny Roderick is also a co-author, along with Gordon Hanson and Rohan Sandhu, of an article titled Rethinking Development, published in the September edition of Finance and Development magazine.
Alright, so I'd like to start out here with something that comes up actually at the end of your F&D article and that is this idea that the bulk of jobs in developing economies are in the non-traded services sector and Any development plan that doesn't consider that reality is in trouble.
So is development's shortcomings over the last few decades been about failing to recognize the importance of that sector? Or is it more about the approach that it's taken to try and support it?
