Skip to main content

The Relationship Between Construction Sector and the National Economy of Sri Lanka

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate

Abstract

The causal relationship between construction and a country’s economy has received much attention in the past. However, the results provide contrasting views on the nature of this relationship. This paper therefore investigates the direction of the causal relationship between construction and the economy of a developing country, Sri Lanka. It uses empirical data for selected economic and construction indicators for the period 1990–2009. The pattern of the causal relationship was determined using Granger causality test. The findings reveal that for all indicators except construction investment, national economic activities precede that of construction. The study therefore concludes and strengthens the body of knowledge on Sri Lanka that the causal relationship between its construction sector and national economy tend towards a uni-directional relationship with the national economy inducing growth in the construction sector and not vice versa.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    First difference

  2. 2.

    Second difference

  3. 3.

    Third difference

References

  1. Bielsa J, Duarte R (2011) Size and linkages of the Spanish construction industry: key sector or deformation of the economy. Camb J of Econ 35:317–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Anaman KA, Osei-Amponsah C (2007) Analysis of causality links between the growth of the construction industry and the growth of the macro economy in Ghana. Constr Manag Econ 25:951–961

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ozkan F, Ozkan O, Gunduz M (2012) Causal relationship between construction investment policy and economic growth in Turkey. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 79:362–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Rameezdeen R, Ramachandra T (2008) Construction linkages in a developing economy: the case of Sri Lanka. RCME 26(5):499–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Lewis TM (2004) The construction industry in the economy of Trinidad and Tobago. Constr Manag Econ 22:541–549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wilhelmsson M, Wigren R (2011) The robustness of the causal and economic relationship between construction flows and economic growth: evidence from Western Europe. Appl Econ 43:891–900

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ruddock L, Lopes J (2006) The construction sector and economic development: the ‘Bon curve’. Constr Manag Econ 24:717–723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hosein R, Lewis TM (2005) Quantifying the relationship between aggregate GDP and construction valve added in a small petroleum rich economy– a case study of Trinidad and Tobago. Constr Manag Econ 23:185–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lean CS (2001) Empirical tests to discern linkages between construction and other economic sectors in Singapore. Constr Manag Econ 19(4):355–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ofori G (1990) The construction industry: aspects of its economics and management. Singapore University press, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  11. Tse RYC, Ganesan S (1997) Causal relationship between construction flows and GDP: evidence from Hong Kong. Constr Manag Econ 15:371–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Yiu CY, Lu XH, Leung MY, Jin WX (2004) A longitudinal analysis on the relationship between construction output and GDP in Hong Kong. Constr Manag Econ 22:339–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lopes J, Nunes A, Balsa C (2011) The long-run relationship between the construction sector and the national economy in Cape Verde. Int J Strateg Prop Manag 15(1):48–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Jackman M (2010) Investigating the relationship between residential construction and economic growth in a small developing country: the case of Barbados. Int Real Estate Rev 13(1):109–116

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hongyu L, Park YW, Siqi Z (2002) The interaction between housing investment and economic growth in China. Int Real Estate Rev 5(1):40–60

    Google Scholar 

  16. Green RK (1997) Follow the leader: how changes in residential and non-residential investment predict changes in GDP. Real Estate Econ 25(2):253–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. International Monetary Fund (2010) World economic outlook database. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/index.htm. Accessed 7 May 2011

  18. Central Bank of Sri Lanka (2010) Central bank annual report, Colombo

    Google Scholar 

  19. Granger CWJ, Newbold P (1986) Forecasting economic time series. Academic Press, Orlando

    Google Scholar 

  20. Central Bank of Sri Lanka (2002) Central bank annual report, Colombo

    Google Scholar 

  21. Central Bank of Sri Lanka (2007) Central bank annual report, Colombo

    Google Scholar 

  22. Huang BN (1995) Do Asian stock market prices follow random walks? Evidence from the variance ratio test. Appl Finan Econ 5:251–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Dickey DA, Fuller WA (1979) Distributions of the estimators for autoregressive time series with a unit root. J Am Stat Assoc 74:427–431

    Google Scholar 

  24. Perron P (1988) Trends and random walks in macroeconomic time series: further evidence from a new approach. J Econ Dyn Control 12:297–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Mukherjee C, White H, Wuyts M (1998) Econometrics and data analysis for developing countries. Spon Press, Routledge, [e-book]. http://www.books.google.lk/books. Accessed 20 Oct 2011

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Ramachandra, T., Rotimi, J.O.B., Rameezdeen, R. (2014). The Relationship Between Construction Sector and the National Economy of Sri Lanka. In: Wang, J., Ding, Z., Zou, L., Zuo, J. (eds) Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35548-6_128

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics