Based on the work of a CIB Task Group on Macroeconomics for Construction this book has 20 authors, eight chapters have a single author, three chapters have two authors and two chapters have three authors. Les Ruddock has undertaken the heroic task of editing the work, and should be congratulated for the effort that produced this book.

Jan Brochner provides an economic perspective of the changing nature of the built environment.

Timothy Michael Lewis explores the relationship between GDP and construction.

Tullio Gregori describes the scope of the construction sector.

Les Ruddock and Steven Ruddock describe the scope and value of construction.

Jorge Lopes gives a long term perspective of investment in construction.

Geoff Briscoe deals with fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies.

John Snyman provides a perspective on the leading indicators and building cycles.

Stephen Gruneberg describes construction markets in a changing world economy.

Christian Brockman adds his perspective on global construction markets and contractors.

Goran Runeson and Gerard De Valence describe what they call the new construction industry.

M. Talat Birgonul, Irem Dikmen and Beliz Ozorhon present a case of Turkish Contractors dealing with knowledge transfer and competitiveness.

Jo P. Soeter, Philip W. Koppels and Peter De Jong present the Dutch experience of the interdependencies between real estate, investment, development and construction.

Arturas Kaklauskas and Edmundas Zavadskas describe the use of information, knowledge and intelligent technologies on the theories of investment.

The book presents technology as transforming the built environment and it rightly sees the economics of the built environment as requiring an interdisciplinary approach. The sections on the role of the construction sector in the economy, including building cycles and the construction markets, are interesting, well described and together give a good understanding of the interplay between construction and economies.

Construction, to my mind, is a privileged sector. In developing economies it is the major beneficiary of investment. In the developed economies it still enjoys investment as construction, unlike manufacturing, cannot be outsourced. If you required a road from Glasgow to Edinburgh you cannot provide that by building it in Malaysia. Manufacturing on the other hand leaks its production, jobs and economic activities to the lower wage economies. Finally in terms of downturn when an economy needs stimulating it is construction that receives the benefit of government investment. All together construction has a tendency to remain buoyant. It may be that is why construction continues to be an attractive subject area for students and civil engineering and building departments in Universities tend flourish more than those of the equivalent manufacturing disciplines.

The book also deals at length with regulatory issues which provides an excellent framework of understanding.

The value of this book depends on what the reader already knows. Given that most know something about economics it will be a dipping into book to confirm existing knowledge or to extend that knowledge to newer areas. How a complete newcomer to construction economics would deal with this book is difficult to predict. I do think the book begins with a presumption of some knowledge although the authors probably disagree.

This is a great effort by the CIB Task Group and has been well worth doing. The book will find a widespread audience amongst practitioners and academics providing them with a framework of construction economics knowledge.

Now, it is just the authors luck that no sooner is their book in construction economics published the global economy is plunged into the worst turmoil since the 1930's. This is not the platform to rail against bankers who clearly didn't understand what they were doing or governments collectively who didn't regulate, both carry a heavy responsibility for the economic situation we are in at the start of 2009. However it must be an opportunity for the authors to publish some update on the new economic situation we currently find ourselves in. For example how will construction markets respond to the credit crunch and a lack of available capital on the one hand and the stimuli that many Governments are providing on the other. This would be of great interest to many.

Ronald McCaffer

Loughborough University