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Deltas, G M (1996) Essays in auctions and procurement: An analysis of bidding rings, left bids, stochastic properties of winning bids, and two step structural estimators of bidding for contracts, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Yale University.

Kohn, M J (1970) The stock of unfinished construction in the USSR, 1950-1965: An efficiency problem in a centrally planned economy, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Yale University.

Krasnokutskaya, E (2003) Identification and estimation in highway procurement auctions under unobserved heterogeneity, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Yale University.

Willis, M A (1979) The effects of cyclical demand on industry structure and on the rate of technological change: An international comparison of the housebuilding sectors in the United States, Great Britain and France, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Yale University.

  • Type: Thesis
  • Keywords: failure; market; technological change; workforce; diffusion of innovation; government; housebuilding; industrialization; innovation; markets; builder; housebuilder; France; United States; international comparison; interview
  • ISBN/ISSN:
  • URL: https://www.proquest.com/docview/302952932
  • Abstract:
    The rate of technological change has long been slow er in housebuilding than in most other sectors of the U.S. economy; it also has lagged behind that of the corresponding sectors in other major countries such as Great Britain and France. The explanations traditionally offered for this relatively poor performance by the U.S. housebuilding sector (e.g., local building codes) are not adequate. This dissertation advances the theory that the wide swings in demand endemic to the U.S. housing market play a more fundamental role than previously thought. Moreover, the theory helps to explain the continuing failure of housebuilding in the U.S. to achieve its oft-predicted "industrialization" revolution. The detailed analysis of the effects of cyclical demand provides an industry model with characteristics which closely parallel those of the U.S. housebuilding sector. These include: its fragmented nature (e.g., the preponderance of small housebuilders and the separation between builders and their workforce), (2) the non-specialization of inputs and outputs for the construction of new houses, (3) the reluctance of builders to use processes with high setup costs, (4) the low level of profits per housebuilding firm, and (5) the industry's opposition to government programs that could jeopardize the market shares of the present participants in the sector . All of these factors in turn work to lower the rate of technological change in housebuilding by decreasing the funds spent on R&D, by distorting the selection of areas for research, by reducing the willingness and ability of house builders to try new products and processes (thus slowing the rate of diffusion of innovations), and by reducing the number and effectiveness of government programs designed to encourage more rapid technological change in the sector. The findings of this study suggest that serious consideration should be given by the government to reduce the amplitude of the swings in demand (the tools available to accomplish this goal are reviewed briefly). Besides leading directly to an increase in the rate of technological change, a reduction in demand cyclicity also makes more attractive a whole range of additional, government actions which could be designed to encourage private-sector innovations; the last chapter ends with a discussion of these programs. The empirical analysis compares the U.S., British, and French housebuilding sectors. Since the Second World War, these three countries have experienced different degrees of demand cyclicity for new housing: the U.S. has had the most cyclical market, Great Britain the next, and France the least. To help separate out those cross-country differences attributable to factors other than demand cyclicity, the second chapter provides an overview of the housebuilding markets in each country. Those differences which remain in industry structure and in the rate of technological change are found to be explicable in terms of the relative degrees of demand cyclicity. The data is drawn from published sources and interviews conducted in each country with builders, government officials, and other experts in the field of housebuilding.