Economist – Concrete Products

Dodge forecasting veteran succeeds Chief Economist Murray

September 9, 2019 Concrete News

Source: Dodge Data & Analytics, New York

Dodge Data & Analytics Senior Economist Richard Branch is successor to Chief Economist Robert Murray, who retired at the end of August. After a decade in his former role, Branch is now tasked with ensuring the service’s continued preeminence in tracking, analyzing and forecasting North American construction activity. He will work with clients and national, regional, or trade media to share insights on residential and commercial building plus nonbuilding markets. Branch will likewise play lead roles in producing or overseeing the monthly Dodge Momentum Index, National Construction Starts research, and annual Dodge Construction Outlook Conference.

Economist: Construction materials price surge largest in seven years

June 20, 2018 Concrete News

Prices for inputs to construction materials are 6.4 percent higher than at the same time one year ago, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent data. The figure is the largest respective year-over-year increase since 2011.

Economist: GDP, equipment sales reflect favorable nonresidential market

August 29, 2017 Concrete News

Weighing new Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data, Associated Builders & Contractors reports that nonresidential fixed investment—a gross domestic product category embodying nonresidential construction activity—expanded at a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.2 percent in the second quarter, following a 7.2 percent jump in Q1. The expansion contributed more than 0.6 percentage point to GDP growth, due in large measure to increased construction equipment investment. The other two nonresidential fixed investment components—structures and intellectual property—also expanded, but at a slower pace.

Lead construction economists confirm private sectors’ near-term growth prospects

August 16, 2016 Concrete News

Source: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C.

The Associated Builders & Contractors, American Institute of Architects and National Association of Home Builders chief economists assembled in Washington, D.C., for a mid-year market forecast, outlining stable to strong residential and commercial project activity through 2017.

Road Builders Economist models fly ash in concrete life-cycle costs

November 2, 2011 CP Staff

ARTBA Senior Economist Alison Premo Black examines in “The Economic Impacts of Prohibiting Coal Fly Ash Use in Transportation Infrastructure Construction” how states would have to forego potential savings derived from using the supplementary binding agent in new, high performance concrete pavements.