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of labour and plant on site productivity and
analysis of project resource requirements.
Few writers refer to or adopt Rakhra and
Wilson's (1982) distinction, notable exceptions
being Bowen and Edwards (1985), Ofori
(1990) and Bowen (1993).
Seeley (1983) opted for a very narrow
definition, remarking that '…building
economics has been widely used ... to
describe the investigation of factors influenc-
ing building cost, with particular reference to
the interaction of building design variables'
(p. v). Ahuja and Walsh (1983) define cost
engineering, which may be considered a form
of construction economics, as '…an active
approach in the design, construction and
commissioning phases of a project, aimed
at extracting the best possible value for
money throughout each activity that has cost
implications' (p. ix).
Hillebrandt (1985) adopted a broad
perspective, defining construction econom-
ics as 'the application of the techniques
and expertise of economics to the study
of the construction firm, the construction
process and the construction industry' (p. 1).
Similarly, this journal defines construction
economics as including design economics,
cost planning, estimating and cost control,
the economic functioning of firms within
the construction sector and the relationship
of the sector to national and international
economics. Ashworth (1988) considers
construction economics as embracing clients'
requirements, impact of a development on
its surrounding areas, relationship between
space and shape, assessment of capital costs,
cost control, life-cycle costing and economics
of the industry in general.
Bon (1989), whose book was 'to offer
a first step toward a theoretical framework
for building economics' (p. xiii), suggests that
'building economics is about economising
the use of scarce resources throughout
the life cycle of a building…' (p. xiii) and
concerns the 'application of standard
investment decision criteria to buildings
as a special class of capital assets' (p. xiii).
Johnson (1990) adopts a similar definition,
suggesting that '…knowledge of econom-
ics can provide a basis for making difficult
trade-offs associated with both design and
long-term management of buildings' (p. 9).
Ruegg and Marshall (1990) promise to
show readers '...how to apply the concepts
and methods of economics to decisions
about the location, design, engineering,
construction, management, operation, reha-
bilitation and disposition of buildings'
(p. xi). Drake and Hartman's (1991)
perspective is similarly project oriented,
considering construction economics as being
concerned with ends and scarce means in
the Construction Industry' (p. 1057) and
listing the, mainly surveying, techniques
it embraces. Raftery (1991) suggests that
'building economics' could be said to be
primarily about a combination of technical
skills, informal optimisations, cost account-
ing, cost control, price forecasting and
resource allocation. Finally, Bowen (1993)
describes 'economics of building' as focusing
'on the application of quantitative techniques
using financial criteria for the provision of
financial advice to the design team' (p. 4).
From the above discussion, a common
definition of construction economics does
not exist. The chronological approach
adopted helps to show that the issue has not
become any clearer over time. For construc-
tion economics to develop into a discipline,
a common definition is required to set the
framework for issues to be considered and
methodological approaches to be adopted.
The definition should relate to the economic
principles of scarcity and choice, refer to
what is being studied (projects, practices,
organisations and enterprises and industry)
and state the overall aim of the discipline.
Segments
Two distinct segments of construction
economics emerge from the discussion in
the previous section. The first relates to
construction projects, whereas the second
concerns the industry. Ofori (1990) terms
these 'construction project economics' and
'construction industry economics', respec-
tively (these terms are used in the rest of
the paper). However, again from the above
definitions, some writers consider one or
the other of the segments to be the entire
field of construction economics or building
economics. For example, Bon's (1989),
Johnson's (1990) and Ruegg and Marshall's
(1990) 'building economics' and Drake and
