The building sector in Cali (Colombia): An economic review to its recent evolution and major determinants

in economic publications it is well known and accepted that the building sector is one of the key links for economic development of the country. on one hand it contributes to the generation of added value and it is an important element in the creation of unskilled labor. for this reason, and with a view to contributing to regional analysis, this article proposes to show the importance and the recent evolution of the building sector in cali, and likewise, to evaluate the response of the municipal construction activity to its different determinants. in first place, the analysis found both expansion and recessive phases in the building sector during the last two decades, establishing cyclical behavior. during the period 1990-2007, the sector showed, on average, a contribution of 16,1% in the municipal gdp. secondly, the number of people engaged in the building sector and in civil works, between 2001 and 2009, in cali, was 58,000. finally, and according to the model's estimation, the determinants of the sector at regional level are the interest rate and the real income, measured by means of the real gdp.