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CONSTRUCTION MICROECONOMICS
Unique and comprehensive reference describing microeconomic approaches, theories, and models adapted to and developed for the construction industry
Construction Microeconomics provides comprehensive coverage of microeconomics applied to the construction industry, focusing on construction clients, who initiate construction projects, and on contractors who transform the ideas and plans of clients into infrastructure and buildings. With the help of microeconomic theory, it tries to answer questions about decision-making by clients, contractors, and governments with respect to projects in the built environment. It includes discussions of alternative theories to mainstream microeconomics, such as new institutional economics, behavioral economics, and the capability approach. Applications from the construction sector including land supply, sustainability, industrialization, and lean construction are provided to ground the theory in practical construction.
In Construction Microeconomics, readers will learn:
* How microeconomic theory relies heavily on assumptions for modeling and the nuances of adjusting those assumptions
* How heterogenous contract goods affect supply and demand, markets, information, technology, and accordingly, the theories of contractors and owners
* How interaction influences the production process and how land as a production factor changes the production function
* How ex-ante costs determine the cost theory of the contractor and why contracting is more akin to the service sector than the goods sector
Advanced undergraduate and masters students, lecturers and academics in construction and related disciplines, and professionals in the construction industry looking for expert analysis into a unique facet of the field will find Construction Microeconomics to be a valuable, complete, and authoritative reference on the subject.
Sommario
Foreword by Gerard de Valence xix
Preface xxi
References xxvi
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Navigating the Maze of Economic Literature 2
1.1.1 Economics 2
1.1.2 Microeconomics 3
1.1.3 Macroeconomics 4
1.1.4 Construction Economics 4
1.2 Tools and Presentations 5
1.2.1 Definitions 5
1.2.2 Economic Scholars 6
1.2.3 Assumptions 6
1.2.4 Case Studies 6
1.2.5 Observations 7
1.2.6 Summaries 7
1.3 Methodological Approach 8
1.3.1 Laws and Regularities 8
1.3.2 Focus and Goals 11
1.3.3 Descriptive and Normative Economics 12
1.4 Theoretical Background 13
1.4.1 Industrial Economics 13
1.4.2 New Institutional Economics 14
1.4.3 Game Theory 15
1.4.4 Auction Theory 16
1.4.5 Behavioral Economics 16
1.4.6 Economics of Information 17
1.4.7 Law and Economics 17
1.5 What You Can and Cannot Expect 17
1.6 Audience 19
1.6.1 Students 19
1.6.2 Lecturers 19 1.6.3 Academics 19
1.6.4 Contractors 19
1.6.5 Owners 20
1.6.6 Policymakers 20
1.7 Structure of the Text 20
1.7.1 Basic Economic Principles 20
1.7.2 Consumers in Perfectly Competitive Markets 21
1.7.3 Producers in Perfectly Competitive Markets 21
1.7.4 Interaction in Perfectly Competitive Markets 21
1.7.5 Imperfect Markets 22
1.7.6 Factor Markets 22
1.7.7 Information, Risk, and Uncertainty 22
1.7.8 Game Theory and Auctions 23
1.7.9 Construction Sector 23
1.7.10 Theory of the Owner 23
1.7.11 Theory of the Contractor 24
1.7.12 Construction Goods 24
1.7.13 Construction Markets 24
1.7.14 Contracting 25
1.7.15 Market Imperfections 25
1.7.16 Government 25
1.7.17 Public Construction Goods 26
1.7.18 Conclusion 26
1.7.19 Synopsis 26
References 27
Part I Microeconomics 31
2 Basic Economic Principles 33
2.1 Consensual Ideas 35
2.2 Scarcity and Choice 36
2.3 Decision-Making 39
2.3.1 Opportunity Costs 39
2.3.2 Incentives 40
2.3.3 Marginal Decisions 41
2.4 Markets 41
2.5 Trade and Comparative Advantage 44
2.6 Government 47
References 48
3 Consumers in Perfectly Competitive Markets 51
3.1 Perfectly Competitive Markets 53
3.2 Consumer Behavior 55
3.2.1 Budget Constraint 55
3.2.2 Preferences and Utility Functions 56
3.2.3 Utility Maximization 60
3.3 Demand Curve 62
3.4 Further Reading 64
References 65
4 Producers in Perfectly Competitive Markets 67
4.1 Producer Behavior 68
4.2 Production Theory 70
4.2.1 Technology 71
4.2.2 Production Functions 75
4.2.2.1 Classical Production Function 77
4.2.2.2 Neoclassical Production Function 79
4.2.2.3 Limitational Production Function 82
4.2.2.4 Technological Change (Innovation) and Learning 83
4.3 Cost Theory 85
4.3.1 Cost Curves for Classical Production Functions 86
4.3.2 Cost Curves for Neoclassical Production Functions 88
4.3.3 Cost Curves for Limitational Production Functions 89
4.3.4 Simplified Cost Function with Constantly Increasing Variable Costs 89
4.3.5 Long-Run Cost Curves 91
4.4 Supply Curve 92
Info autore
Christian Brockmann is Professor (Lecturer) of Construction Engineering at the University of Utah, USA. He holds a PhD in construction management from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and a PhD in Economics from TU Freiberg (Germany). With over 20 years' experience in the management of major infrastructure projects as a contractor and consultant, Christian was Project Director for the BangNa Expressway in Thailand and the Port Said Tunnels in Egypt, (both $2b+ projects), and was part of the Owner's Project Management Team for the Qatar Integrated Railway Project (a $40b+ project).
