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Prevailing wage legislation and public school construction efficiency: a stochastic frontier approach

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  • Kevin Duncan
  • Peter Philips
  • Mark Prus

Abstract

Stochastic frontier regression is used to examine the effect of introducing prevailing wage legislation on public school construction efficiency in British Columbia. Prior to the legislation, public school projects were from 16% to 19% smaller, in terms of square feet, than comparable private structures. However, likelihood ratio tests consistently indicate that the coefficients measuring the effect of the policy on the size differential between covered and uncovered projects are not statistically different from zero. These results suggest that construction wage requirements did not alter input utilisation in a way that significantly affected construction output. Average inefficiency for school construction in British Columbia over the period of the study is 12.1%.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Duncan & Peter Philips & Mark Prus, 2006. "Prevailing wage legislation and public school construction efficiency: a stochastic frontier approach," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(6), pages 625-634.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:conmgt:v:24:y:2006:i:6:p:625-634
    DOI: 10.1080/01446190600601719
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kevin Duncan & Peter Philips & Mark Prus, 2014. "Prevailing Wage Regulations and School Construction Costs: Cumulative Evidence from British Columbia," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 593-616, October.

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    Keywords

    Prevailing wage laws; regression analysis;

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