Research Companion to Construction Economics

577 Pages·2022·6.353 MB·English

by  George Ofori

RESEARCH COMPANION TO CONSTRUCTION
ECONOMICS
ELGAR COMPANIONS TO THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
This important and timely series brings together critical and thought-provoking contribu-
tions on the most pressing topics and issues in built environment research. Comprising
specially-commissioned chapters from leading academics these comprehensive Companions
feature cutting-edge research, help to define the field and are written with a global readership
in mind. Equally useful as reference tools or high-level introductions to specific topics, issues,
methods, innovations and debates, these Companions will be an essential resource for aca-
demic researchers and postgraduate students in building, construction management and related
disciplines.
Titles in the series include:
Research Companion to Building Information Modeling
Edited by Weisheng Lu and Chimay J. Anumba
Research Companion to Construction Economics
Edited by George Ofori
Research Companion to Construction
Economics
Edited by
George Ofori
Professor, School of the Built Environment and Architecture, London South
Bank University, UK
ELGAR COMPANIONS TO THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA
© George Ofori 2022
Cover image: Glitch Lab App on Unsplash
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording,
or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK
Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022931153
This book is available electronically in the
Economics subject collection
http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781839108235
ISBN 978 1 83910 822 8 (cased)
ISBN 978 1 83910 823 5 (eBook)
EEP BoX
This book is for my children: Abena, Amma, Akosua and Kofi.
They changed my life.

Contents
List of contributors ix
Foreword xi
Preface xiii
List of abbreviations xv
1 Introduction to the Research Companion to Construction Economics 1
George Ofori
2 Construction economics: its origins, significance, current status and
need for development 18
George Ofori
3 The philosophy of construction economics 41
Stephen Gruneberg and John Kelsey
4 The nature and development of construction economics 61
Gerard de Valence
5 Construction economics in antiquity 86
Jan Bröchner
6 Construction in the economy and in national development 104
Jorge Lopes
7 Construction project economics 126
Nii A. Ankrah and Emmanuel Manu
8 Dynamics of construction industry development 153
Mohan Kumaraswamy and Gangadhar Mahesh
9 Applications of mainstream economic theories to the construction
industry: transaction costs 178
Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz and Afzan Binti Ahmad Zaini
10 Construction industry and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 199
Alex Opoku
11 Sustainability economics and the construction industry 215
Obas John Ebohon
12 International construction data: a critical review 238
Jim Meikle and Asheem Shrestha
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viii Research companion to construction economics
13 Measuring and comparing construction costs in different locations:
methods and data 261
Rick Best
14 New trends in international construction 277
Hongbin Jiang
15 Economics of trust in construction 309
Anita Cerić
16 The builders of cities: prospects for synergy between labour and the
built environment 328
Edmundo Werna and Jeroen Klink
17 Economic principles of bidding for construction projects 351
Samuel Laryea
18 Procurement and delivery management 371
Ron Watermeyer
19 The economics of housing policy and construction: developing
a responsive supply sector 396
Suraya Ismail
20 A review of stakeholder management in construction 422
Ezekiel Chinyio, Sukhtaj Singh and Subashini Suresh
21 The global construction market 445
Weisheng (Wilson) Lu and Meng Ye
22 Relational impacts of corruption on the procurement process:
implications for economic growth in developing countries 466
Albert P.C. Chan and Emmanuel Kingsford Owusu
23 Economic considerations in the procurement and deployment of
construction informatics applications 491
Chimay J. Anumba and Esther A. Obonyo
24 The future: new directions of construction economics research 514
George Ofori
Index 539
List of contributors
Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz, Professor, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaysia
Sarawak, Malaysia.
Afzan Binti Ahmad Zaini, Associate Professor, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia.
Nii A. Ankrah, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, UK.
Chimay J. Anumba, Professor, College of Design, Construction and Planning, University of
Florida, USA.
Rick Best, Associate Professor, Faculty of Society and Design, Bond University, Australia.
Jan Bröchner, Professor, Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers
University of Technology, Sweden.
Anita Cerić, Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
Albert P.C. Chan, Professor, Faculty of Construction and Environment, Hong Kong
Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR.
Ezekiel Chinyio, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of
Wolverhampton, UK.
Obas John Ebohon, Professor, School of the Built Environment and Architecture, London
South Bank University, UK.
Stephen Gruneberg, Honorary Professor, Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction,
Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London, UK.
Suraya Ismail, Director of Research, Khazanah Research Institute, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Hongbin Jiang, Partner, Capital Project and Infrastructure, PricewaterhouseCoopers China,
Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
John Kelsey, Associate Professor, Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, Faculty of the
Built Environment, University College London, UK.
Jeroen Klink, Professor, Center for Engineering, Modeling and Applied Sciences,
Universidade Federal do ABC, Brazil.
Mohan Kumaraswamy, Honorary Professor, Faculty of Engineering, University of Hong
Kong, Hong Kong SAR; and University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Samuel Laryea, Associate Professor, School of Construction Economics and Management,
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Jorge Lopes, Professor, Department of Construction and Planning, Polytechnic Institute of
Bragança, Portugal.
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