ABSTRACT
Governments of the OECD group own between 10 and 25 per cent of their total country fixed assets in a form of public works, which include buildings and general purpose infrastructure. The concept of National Innovation Systems has been used in a number of OECD studies in the 1980-1990s. Innovation and learning are at the centre of economic and social development. Social capital has been defined by A. Portes as 'the ability of actors to secure benefits by virtue of membership in social networks'. Social capital consists of the norms, roles, institutions and networks of social organization. With the 'laissez-faire' paradigm, governments limit their roles to closing some economic gaps, called 'externalities' or 'market failures'. However, it appears that there have been many market failures in construction - therefore important roles for government. A new type of market failure has been stressed, with the strategic importance of knowledge.
