Construction Industry Economics and Policy

A BLOG ABOUT THE STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Available from Amazon

Nov 10
7 min

Reorganizing Construction With 3D Printing

3D printing allows a production mix that combines offsite, onsite and nearsite manufacturing in a new way of organizing construction.

8 views0 comments

Sep 24
8 min

Construction Employment at Record High in Australia

Between 2007-22 an increase in construction work done required more people, but there has been great variation between industry subsectors.

158 views0 comments

May 29
2 min

Construction is Not a Service Industry

Is the industry’s output a service, the management of construction, or a product?

29 views1 comment

Apr 30
7 min

Incremental Innovation in Construction

The example of concrete Construction of the built environment has an interlocking set of economic, political, legal, and social barriers...

134 views0 comments

Jan 20
3 min

Australian Built Environment Industries: Output and Employment

Industries are groups of firms with common characteristics in products, services, production processes and logistics, subdivided by the...

21 views0 comments

Dec 5, 2022
7 min

Situating MMC Within Technological Adoption

How firms use technology varies widely and cases like tractors, TVs and phones show technology diffusion typically takes 2 to 3 decades

29 views0 comments

Nov 30, 2022
6 min

Construction Productivity Trends for Building, Engineering and Construction Services

Compares deflated GVA per person employed to nominal IVA per person employed for Building, Engineering and Construction services.

124 views0 comments

Aug 29, 2022
9 min

Construction Industry Policy and Industry Culture

Basing policies on technocratic measures like ISO accreditation and BIM use levels works with industry culture.

76 views0 comments

Jul 4, 2022
1 min

Research Companion to Construction Economics

The Elgar Research Companion on Construction Economics provides an overview of current research in 24 chapters by recognised experts.

88 views0 comments

May 30, 2022
8 min

Building Standards, Energy Codes and Decarbonization

The regular revision and upgrading of building codes and product standards is a policy area where governments direct industry development.

178 views0 comments

Feb 20, 2022
6 min

New US Data Shows We Have a False Picture of Construction Productivity

It is possible the methods used to estimate construction productivity might be faulty, giving a false picture of the industry.

276 views0 comments

Jan 13, 2022
3 min

Infrastructure Investment and Economic Growth

A new paper from three World Bank researchers on the relationship between expenditure on physical infrastructure and economic growth

173 views0 comments

May 31, 2021
4 min

More Data on Australian Contractors

Grattan Institute report into procurement of Australian transport argues for greater client involvement in large public projects

48 views0 comments

Apr 21, 2021
3 min

Fewer Large Contractors in Australia

Long-run Changes in the Number and Size of Firms in the Australian Construction Industry There have been five Construction Industry...

90 views0 comments

Nov 17, 2018
3 min

New Anticorruption Website

CurbingCorruption is a new website that provides concrete anticorruption advice tailored to specific sectors such as construction, education

6 views0 comments

Apr 4, 2018
5 min

Five Construction Technologies

Every three years a giant construction and agricultural machinery show is held in the US, featuring the latest in giant machines like cranes

2 views0 comments

Feb 22, 2018
4 min

Australian Construction Productivity in the 1980s

These posts have the relevant parts of those publications, which are reviews of the then current data and research.

7 views0 comments

Dec 21, 2017
8 min

UK Launches New Industrial Strategy

Industry policy has been out of favour for the last couple of decades, especially in countries like the US, UK and Australia.

3 views0 comments

Aug 30, 2017
5 min

Market Structure in Building and Construction

Patterns of substitutability lead to a view of an industry as a chain of substitution, where industries are defined by their product.

94 views0 comments

Aug 4, 2017
5 min

The Australian Construction Industry After the Mining Boom

There were significant compositional and structural changes in construction during the mining boom.

2 views0 comments

About the Blog

The organisation of the building and construction industry and its role in the creation and maintenance of the built environment is the focus of this blog.

Like other industries, construction is being reshaped by rapid and widespread advances in materials, technology and capability. How those advances might affect an industry that has changed slowly over time is an interesting question.The blog collects industry data and discusses these trends and their effect on industry structure and performance.

The economic perspective focuses on firms and industries rather than individual projects.

Gerard de Valence

I studied politics, philosophy and economics at Sydney University and worked in the private sector for a decade before becoming an academic in the School of the Built Environment at the University of Technology Sydney and UCL’s Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management in London. The ABOUT page has my bio.

Reorganizing Construction With 3D Printing

Nov 10

Is Productivity Growth in Construction Possible?

Oct 20

Construction Employment at Record High in Australia

Sep 24

The Long Cycle in Australian Construction Productivity

Aug 24

Australian Manufacturing of Prefabricated Buildings and Construction Products

Jul 7

Getting a Broad View of Constructing the Built Environment

Jun 14

Construction is Not a Service Industry

May 29

Incremental Innovation in Construction

Apr 30

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Construction

Mar 24

Review of Thinking Like an Economist by Elizabeth Pop Berman

Feb 1

Australian Built Environment Industries: Output and Employment

Jan 20

Situating MMC Within Technological Adoption

Dec 5, 2022

Construction Productivity Trends for Building, Engineering and Construction Services

Nov 30, 2022

Employment Trends in Australian Built Environment Industries

Oct 21, 2022

Comparisons of Construction to Manufacturing Use Flawed Data

Sep 22, 2022

Construction Industry Policy and Industry Culture

Aug 29, 2022

Research Companion to Construction Economics

Jul 4, 2022

Building Standards, Energy Codes and Decarbonization

May 30, 2022

3D Concrete Printing and Digital Construction

Apr 23, 2022

New US Data Shows We Have a False Picture of Construction Productivity

Feb 20, 2022

Infrastructure Investment and Economic Growth

Jan 13, 2022

BIM Mandates and Construction Industry Policy

Oct 23, 2021

Industry Policy and the UK Construction Reform Movement

Sep 22, 2021

Industrialized Building and the Failure of Katerra

Aug 14, 2021

Macroeconomic Policy and Australian Built Environment Industries

Jun 29, 2021

More Data on Australian Contractors

May 31, 2021

Comparing Large and Small Construction Firms

May 4, 2021

Fewer Large Contractors in Australia

Apr 21, 2021

Australian Construction Tech on the Move

Mar 23, 2021

The Digital Construction Production System

Mar 8, 2021

Construction and Advanced Technologies

Feb 5, 2021

Digitization and Advanced Business Technologies in Industry

Jan 14, 2021

Production of the Built Environment as an Industrial Sector

Nov 30, 2020

Construction 4.0 Book

Oct 20, 2020

Construction as a Technological System of Production: A Life Cycle Approach

Oct 14, 2020

Democratizing our Data

Sep 22, 2020

Construction AI

Jul 27, 2020

Developments in Construction Economics

Jun 29, 2020

Industry Structure and General Purpose Technologies

Feb 26, 2020

Evolution of the Construction Technological System

Jan 27, 2020

Construction as a Mature Technological System

Dec 25, 2019