Dimensions and Correlates of Development in Construction

In light of the limited impact research on construction in developing countries has had on theory and practice, this article discusses the meaning of development as it pertains to construction. The discussion distinguishes between studies addressing construction in developing countries, entailing focus on context and case-based approaches to research, and studies that focus on the process of construction industry development. Progress in research addressing the process of development has been hampered by a lack of data to support the examination of changes in construction industries over time and to compare industries in countries at different stages of economic development. To encourage more process-oriented research, a definition of development in construction is elaborated to include six important dimensions – i.e., important factors affecting construction industry development. Taking into account the lack of relevant statistics, correlates for these dimensions (i.e., statistical proxies) are reviewed. Finally, a manner of graphically presenting these dimensions and correlates is introduced. This graphic format enables visual comparison of conditions affecting construction in different countries. It also provides a frame for relating separate case studies to support comparisons and contributions to theory.

On the comparison of two approaches to intersectoral balance analysis

The diversification of the inter-industry connections of modern economies seriously hindered the analysis of production networks evolution and input-output balances projection, that traditionally was made by the Leontief Input-Output balance model. That is why the new approaches have begun to develop, that take into account the substitutability of products and services in modern supply networks. In this work we discuss the quality of the new approach to the intersectoral linkages analysis, that is based on the nonlinear model of resource allocation with Cobb-Douglas production technologies. We compare this approach with the traditional Leontief’s scheme of intersectoral connection studying. We make evaluations using the both of methods for large economies, that are on different stages of economic development.

Governance Challenges for Implementing Nature-Based Solutions in the Asian Region

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are recognized under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. This relatively new concept has become a key element in strategies for green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. NbS consist of a range of measures that address various societal challenges, including climate change, natural disasters, and water security, by combining human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Although the importance of NbS has been widely recognized, existing studies on aspects of their governance are limited and mainly focus on NbS in European countries. There is little relevant research in other regions, including Asia. This study aimed to explore challenges for NbS governance by analyzing the development and implementation of NbS in Asia. We focused on NbS in the fields of climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and infrastructure. In these three fields, NbS are linked to climate security issues and have been widely implemented in Asian countries. This analysis identified the challenges for NbS governance for countries at different stages of economic development, and for developing measures for NbS with different institutions and actors. It recognizes the importance of a framework that matches the need for NbS with relevant institutions and actors at various scales and in various sectors. Guidelines are required to integrate NbS into strategies and policies at national and local levels and also into international cooperation.

A Comparative Study of the Impacts of Human Capital and Physical Capital on Building Sustainable Economies at Different Stages of Economic Development

This study investigated the contributions of human capital and physical capital to economies at different stages by measuring the economic development with the traditional GDP and green GDP. The traditional GDP stood for the quantity of economic growth, and the green GDP, taking both the energy consumption and environmental pollution into account, was employed to represent the sustainability of economic development. We used a panel data of 143 countries and regions during the period from 1990 to 2014, and results showed that the elasticities of output with respect to human capital were greater compared to physical capital, while green GDP was significantly more sensitive to changes in human capital than the traditional GDP. In particular, considering the unbalanced distribution of economic growth among countries and regions, we employed the quantile regression model to explore the heterogeneous roles of physical and human capital in different stages of economic development, which evidenced not only the significance but also the stability of human capital. As national economic levels grew, countries became less dependent on physical capital, yet human capital maintained its outstanding role at different stages of economic development, particularly for the building of more sustainable economies.

Governance, Institutions, and Economic Development

Literature suggests a positive relationship between a country’s social and economic development, good governance, and institutions. However, there is not a consensus on the nature of this relationship and the aspects of the governance that are most important for economic development. This paper addresses this question by empirically examining the relationship between a country’s economic performance and governance indicators in 1996-2019. Economic performance indicators include GDP per capita and GDP. Governance indicators are adopted from the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators. The paper shows that while most governance indicators have a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth, their importance varies with the income level of the country. As such, improvements in different aspects of governance become more effective for economic growth as countries move through different stages of economic development.

Research on the Impact of Expressway on the County Economy Based on a Spatial DID Model: The Case of Three Provinces of China

Infrastructure construction results in transportation cost and regional economy changes. Based on the exogenous infrastructure change of a county highway opening as a natural experiment, this paper uses the spatial difference-in-differences (DID) model to analyze the impact of highway construction in three different provinces of China from 2004 to 2017. It was proved that highway connectivity had no significant or negative impact on the economy of the counties in three provinces that the highway passes through. In addition, highway connectivity was claimed to have obvious spatial spillover effects, which could promote the economic development of the whole region. For counties belonging to provinces in different regions and stages of economic development, we establish a spatial DID model that integrates time and space dimensions to study the impact of expressways on county economic development, to make up for the traditional DID model’s dependence on SUTVA assumptions, and to obtain spatial spillover effects.

Spatial population trends and economic development in Puerto Rico, 1765–2010

I use data for consistently defined municipalities to describe spatial patterns in population growth in Puerto Rico across all stages of economic development and rule by Spain and then the United States. The spatial distribution of population began to resemble the modern distribution after the turn of the twentieth century, around the time that municipal population densities diverged. Municipal population growth was positively correlated with crop production in the preindustrial era and was negatively correlated with agricultural employment from 1899 to 1970. Urbanization commenced around 1900, decades earlier than generally believed and before most of the Caribbean and Central America.

Wachstum und Verteilung

Income Growth and Distribution. This chapter describes economic growth and the distribution of income and wealth. Data on income are available from the last years of the 19th century onwards, whereas data on wealth are available for the entire century. Of all the Austrian lands, Lower Austria had the highest productivity, the earliest shift from agriculture to other sectors, and the largest wealth. It is a prime example of regions where the income distribution tends to widen from the beginnings of modern economic growth onwards. From the turn of the century on, however, the distribution tends to narrow again. The main reason for these changes lies in the differences in distribution structures between agriculture and the other sectors. Changes in income differentials between branches, or groups in the vertical order of branches, have less impact. The same pattern (growing inequality when a region is more developed) is also visible in synchronous comparisons between regions in different stages of economic development.