IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rif/wpaper/79.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Construction Value Chains and Their Productivity Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Kuusi, Tero
  • Junnonen, Juha-Matti
  • Kulvik, Martti

Abstract

The construction industry has suffered from low growth in recent decades. Motivated by the economic importance of the industry, we revisit the construction productivity puzzle by analyzing the construction value chains of 12 European countries with data from the World Input–Output and EU KLEMS databases. We decompose construction-related value-added and productivity contributions to the construction industry and the rest of the value chain, and show that the traditional focus on the construction industry is restrictive. There is a substantial amount of construction-related value-added generated in other industries, and the productivity growth in the construction value chains has, for the most part, been seen in them. Furthermore, we show that there is a strong, long-term relationship between construction-related patents and the improvement of total factor productivity in the value chains, but the value chains typically suffer from low efficiency in the use of information technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuusi, Tero & Junnonen, Juha-Matti & Kulvik, Martti, 2020. "Construction Value Chains and Their Productivity Growth," ETLA Working Papers 79, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:rif:wpaper:79
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.etla.fi/wp-content/uploads/ETLA-Working-Papers-79.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mirko Draca & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Productivity and ICT: A Review of the Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0749, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Susanto Basu & John G. Fernald, 2008. "Information and communications technology as a general purpose technology: evidence from U.S. industry data," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, pages 1-15.
    3. Shamil George Naoum, 2016. "Factors influencing labor productivity on construction sites," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 65(3), pages 401-421, March.
    4. Jakob B. Madsen, 2008. "Economic Growth, TFP Convergence and the World Export of Ideas: A Century of Evidence," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(1), pages 145-167, March.
    5. Marcel P. Timmer & Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los & Robert Stehrer & Gaaitzen J. Vries, 2015. "An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input–Output Database: the Case of Global Automotive Production," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 575-605, August.
    6. Mary O'Mahony & Michela Vecchi, 2005. "Quantifying the Impact of ICT Capital on Output Growth: A Heterogeneous Dynamic Panel Approach," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 72(288), pages 615-633, November.
    7. Timmer, Marcel P. & Los, Bart & Stehrer, Robert & de Vries, Gaaitzen J., 2016. "An Anatomy of the Global Trade Slowdown based on the WIOD 2016 Release," GGDC Research Memorandum GD-162, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    8. repec:bla:germec:v:8:y:2007:i::p:146-173 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Marcel Timmer, 2017. "Productivity Measurement in Global Value Chains," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 33, pages 182-193, Fall.
    10. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    11. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 1994. "Endogenous Innovation in the Theory of Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 23-44, Winter.
    12. Les Ruddock & Steven Ruddock, 2011. "Evaluation of trends in the UK construction industry using growth and productivity accounts," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(12), pages 1229-1239.
    13. Coe, David T. & Helpman, Elhanan & Hoffmaister, Alexander W., 2009. "International R&D spillovers and institutions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 723-741, October.
    14. Ahmet Anil Sezer & Jan Br�chner, 2014. "The construction productivity debate and the measurement of service qualities," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 565-574, June.
    15. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Are ICT Spillovers Driving the New Economy?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(1), pages 33-57, March.
    16. Mariagrazia Squicciarini & Anna-Leena Asikainen, 2011. "A value chain statistical definition of construction and the performance of the sector," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(7), pages 671-693, March.
    17. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    18. David Arditi & Krishna Mochtar, 2000. "Trends in productivity improvement in the US construction industry," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 15-27.
    19. Mohamed Abdel-Wahab & Bernard Vogl, 2011. "Trends of productivity growth in the construction industry across Europe, US and Japan," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 635-644.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tero Kuusi & Martti Kulvik & Juha-Matti Junnonen, 2022. "Productivity Growth in Construction Value Chains," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 42, pages 3-32, Spring.
    2. Thomas Strobel, 2012. "New evidence on the sources of EU countries’ productivity growth—industry growth differences from R&D and competition," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 293-325, August.
    3. Edquist, Harald & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Swedish lessons: How important are ICT and R&D to economic growth?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-12.
    4. Kumar, Ronald Ravinesh & Kumar, Radika Devi & Patel, Arvind, 2015. "Accounting for telecommunications contribution to economic growth: A study of Small Pacific Island States," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 284-295.
    5. Meijers, Huub, 2007. "ICT Externalities: Evidence from cross country data," MERIT Working Papers 2007-021, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Tero Kuusi, 2015. "The dynamics of ICT adaptation and the productivity gaps across advanced nations," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 175-188, October.
    7. Francesco Venturini, 2009. "The long-run impact of ICT," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 497-515, December.
    8. Ronald Kumar, 2014. "Exploring the role of technology, tourism and financial development: an empirical study of Vietnam," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2881-2898, September.
    9. Coe, David T. & Helpman, Elhanan & Hoffmaister, Alexander W., 2009. "International R&D spillovers and institutions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 723-741, October.
    10. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    11. Kim, Keungoui & Bounfour, Ahmed & Nonnis, Alberto & Özaygen, Altay, 2021. "Measuring ICT externalities and their contribution to productivity: A bilateral trade based approach," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    12. Luisa R. Blanco & Ji Gu & James E. Prieger, 2016. "The Impact of Research and Development on Economic Growth and Productivity in the U.S. States," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(3), pages 914-934, January.
    13. Kul Luintel & Mosahid Khan & Konstantinos Theodoridis, 2014. "On the robustness of R&D," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 137-155, October.
    14. Kumar, Ronald Ravinesh & Stauvermann, Peter Josef & Samitas, Aristeidis, 2016. "The effects of ICT⁎ on output per worker: A study of the Chinese economy," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 102-115.
    15. Brianti, Marco & Gáti, Laura, 2023. "Information and communication technologies and medium-run fluctuations," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    16. AM.Priyangani Adikari & Haiyun Liu & MMSA. Marasinghe, 2021. "Inward Foreign Direct Investment-Induced Technological Innovation in Sri Lanka? Empirical Evidence Using ARDL Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-16, June.
    17. Ronald Kumar & Madhukar Singh, 2014. "Role of health expenditure and ICT in a small island economy: a study of Fiji," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 2295-2311, July.
    18. Christian Dahl & Hans Kongsted & Anders Sørensen, 2011. "ICT and productivity growth in the 1990s: panel data evidence on Europe," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 141-164, February.
    19. Ronald Ravinesh Kumar & Peter Josef Stauvermann & Nikeel Kumar & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad, 2019. "Exploring the effect of ICT and tourism on economic growth: a study of Israel," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 221-254, August.
    20. Chuan Liu & Marianne Saam, 2022. "ICT and Productivity Growth Within Value Chains," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(3), pages 711-737, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Construction; Productivity; Global value chains; Organization of production; Production management; Industrial structure and structural change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • M11 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Production Management

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rif:wpaper:79. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kaija Hyvönen-Rajecki (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/etlaafi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.