Prevailing wage regulations and school construction costs: evidence from British Columbia

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Publication Type Journal Article
School or College College of Science
Department Economics
Creator Bilginsoy, Cihan
Other Author Philips, Peter
Title Prevailing wage regulations and school construction costs: evidence from British Columbia
Date 2000-01-01
Description The stock of public school buildings constructed during the baby boom is aging along with that generation of Americans. Soon much of this building stock will have to be replaced.(FN1) The financing of this rebuilding of America's schools is an emergent political issue of considerable importance. Given these pressures on school construction financing, any proposal that promises to substantially lower the price tag for this reconstruction garners considerable public interest and potential support. One such proposal is the elimination of prevailing wage regulations that in 31 states and the District of Columbia govern the payment of wage rates on public school construction.(FN2) Prevailing wage laws require that state mandated wage rates be paid on public road and building construction. The purpose of these laws is to encourage collective bargaining in construction and to discourage the payment on public works of wages below those prevailing locally. Critics of prevailing wage laws assert that these laws raise public construction costs and discourage non-union contractors from bidding on public works.
Type Text
Publisher Journal of Education Finance
Volume 23
Issue 3
First Page 415
Last Page 431
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Bilginsoy, C., & Philips, P. (2000). Prevailing wage regulations and school construction costs: evidence from British Columbia. Journal of Education Finance, 25(3), 415-31. Wint 2000
Rights Management (c)Journal of Education Finance
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 56,033 bytes
Identifier uspace,15335
ARK ark:/87278/s6th95cj
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Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6th95cj