Changes in Productivity and Composition of Output in Building Construction, 1972-1982

Measuring Construction

“…One element some researchers found was that of stagnation or declining productivity in the United States construction industry and these researchers had some difficulty explaining why this might have occurred. These include work by Stokes (1981), Allen (1985) and Schriver and Bowlby (1985). Tan (2000) found a similar decline in productivity in the Singapore construction industry over the period 1980 to 1996.…”

“…Later examples of estimated production functions include those by Allen (1985), Stokes (1981), Goodrum and Haas (2004), and Kau and Sirmans (1983). Examples of the use of cost functions estimations include those by Schriver and Bowlby (1985) for the United States, and Chau (1993 and2009) who found in both cases rising productivity levels in Hong Kong. Additional work has been undertaken in countries like New Zealand using this approach (Orr, 1989;Chapple, 1994;Philpott, 1995;and Mason and Osborne, 2007).…”

A review of productivity analysis of the New Zealand construction industry

“…Dacy (1965) was perhaps the first to use an estimated production function for the United States construction industry (1947 to 1963) and found increasing levels of productivity. Later examples of estimated production functions include those by Allen (1985); Stokes (1981) Goodrum and Haas (2004), Schiver and Bowlby (1985), Mao, Goh, Wang and Ofori (2003) and Kau and Sirmans (1983).Examples of the use of cost functions estimations include those by Chau (1993) and Chau (2009) who in both cases found rising productivity levels in Hong Kong; and Schriver and Bowlby (1985).…”

“…One element some researchers found was that there appeared to be a degree of stagnation or decline in productivity in the United States construction industry during the 1970s and 1980s. These include work by Stokes (1981), Allen (1985) and Schriver and Bowlby (1985). These researchers had some difficulty explaining why this might have occurred, given that it was a period of some technological change and innovation in the industry.…”

Factors Promoting Innovation and Efficiency in the Construction Industry: A Comparative Study of New Zealand and Australia

“…A related view is that the official data on construction industry activity does not take into account improvements in the quality of the construction outputs produced and so therefore improvements have not been detected (Rosefielde and Mills, 1979). One final view is that that much of the stagnation in productivity can be attributed to a change in the output mix from high to low productivity building projects (Schriver and Bowlby, 1985). Whatever the cause of the perceived stagnation, it is likely that methodological issues are making it difficult to determine the degree to which productivity in the industry has changed, and what the causes of any changes are.…”