Building Trends

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that the seemingly disparate trends in the American construction industry are in fact related by the geography of modern employment. Our booming technology-based economy has focused its growth in urban areas, leading to skyrocketing housing prices and urban sprawl while simultaneously leaving construction employment and nationwide building trends dormant.

From the Paper:

"In 1982, total construction receipts for single-family homes totaled $5.3 billion. By 1997, receipts had grown to an inflation-adjusted amount of $7.9 billion. This 60% increase is significantly less than the overall growth in construction in the United States in that time period, which almost tripled from $313 billion to $835 billion(US Census Bureau, 1982, 1987, 1997). The causes underlying this startling difference are hard to pin down, but a large part of the blame can probably be ascribed to the significant depression of the late eighties and early nineties. The high interest rates and high inflation figures of the era scared away new home buyers, while government investment in the private sector spurred other aspects of construction (Econedlink, 2000)."

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