Economic sector

• Primary: involves the retrieval and production of raw materials, such as corn, coal, wood and iron.
• Secondary: involves the transformation of raw or intermediate materials into goods e.g. manufacturing steel into cars, or textiles into clothing.
• Tertiary: involves the supplying of services to consumers and businesses, such as baby-sitting, cinema and banking.

Historic evolution

• The ancient economy built mainly on the basis of subsistence farming.
• The industrial revolution lessened the role of subsistence farming, converting land-use to more extensive and monocultural forms of agriculture over the last three centuries. Economic growth took place mostly in the mining, construction and manufacturing industries.
• In the economies of modern consumer societies, services, finance, and technology – the knowledge economy – play an increasingly significant role.

By ownership

• Public sector or state sector
• Private sector or privately run businesses
• Voluntary sector