Mitigating Monopoly or Preventing Discrimination: Comparing Antitrust to Regulatory Goals in the Interstate Commerce Act

The Interstate Commerce Act and Sherman Antitrust Act were passed within 3 years of each other. Although regulation and antitrust both address market power, the ICA and Sherman Act had different objectives. After a minimal reference to just and reasonable prices, the ICA focused on preventing price discrimination in rail. No posited Sherman Act goal—inequality, consumer welfare, efficiency—is in the ICA. Priority of discrimination in the ICA, however, is predictable. Shippers would care less about absolute rates—which can be passed on to final consumers—and more about preventing rivals from gaining advantages through input price discounts.     

The Effects of the Interstate Commerce Act on Transport Costs: Evidence from Wheat Prices

There is significant debate over the effect of the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA) on the cost of rail transport to shippers. Taking price differences across locations as proxy for transport costs, we use data on wheat prices before and after the implementation of the ICA to see if the Act led to smaller differences in wheat prices across American cities relative to a control group of European cities. We find that the ICA had no effect on US transport costs; however, it reduced their volatility substantially. This evidence supports the view that the ICA helped stabilize cartel prices after a period of significant price wars.     

Railroads and Price Discrimination: The Roles of Competition, Information, and Regulation

I evaluate railroad price discrimination in three periods: 1870–1886, before the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act; 1945–1975, when rates were regulated but railroads faced extensive intermodal competition; and 1980–2010, after the passage of major regulatory reforms. While price discrimination was widespread in each period, the specific practices varied as the nature of competition, regulation, and the information available to decision-makers changed. The Act focused heavily on price discrimination, and limited some practices while encouraging others. One major weakness of the Act was the restrictions that were imposed on pricing practices that could lead to cost reductions and productivity improvements.     

Market choice,entry regulation,and joint production: Market access and market service in motor carrier markets

In this paper I develop and estimate a model explaining firm decisions to serve markets. Firms choose to serve multiple markets within a set of markets, but serve only one set of markets at a time. Entry regulation restricts access to markets and may result in firms not serving particular markets or sets of markets. The empirical analysis suggests that Interstate Commerce Commission entry regulation, despite partial deregulation in 1980, continues to affect firm decisions to serve markets and that the effects vary across markets and may cause a firm to serve an entirely different set of markets.     

战略性新兴产业组织的劳资分配

战略性新兴产业组织的主导形态是模块化契约网络组织,具体包括模块制造商、系统集成商和规则设计商三类组织形态。本文认为,战略性新兴产业组织的劳资分配是对税后增加值(即税后V+M部分)的分配,具体分为两个层面:一是劳资作为一个整体(法人形式出现)以中间产品件工契约方式所进行的产业组织层面的分配,劳资群体的分配受益格局是按模块制造商、系统集成商和规则设计商顺序依次显著递增;二是劳资在产业组织层面的分配基础上所进行的企业层面的分配。本文分析指出,三类企业的劳资分配范式分属于三种不同范式:模块制造商——物质资本主导的分配范式,系统集成商——人力资本与物质资本共同主导的分配范式,规则设计商——人力资本主导的分配范式。三类企业劳资在分配中的身份、地位、收入模式、分配依据、分配顺序以及分配治理等都存在很大的不同,本文对它们进行了较系统的研究。     

产业转移特征及其与企业亏损、劳动力转移关系研究

本文采用比较分析方法,基于纺织业,纺织服装、鞋帽制造业和化学纤维制造业2001～2010年统计数据,分析产业转移特征与趋势,并进一步探讨与企业亏损及劳动力转移的关系。研究结论表明:(1)从2001～2010年10年来看,纺织业和纺织服装、鞋帽制造业由东部向中西部转移,而化学纤维制造业由中部向东西部转移;(2)从2001～2010年10年内不同时间阶段来看,纺织业等三大产业在2001～2004年间都由中西部向东部转移,2004年后纺织业和纺织服装、鞋帽制造业转为由东部向中西部转移,而化学纤维制造业2004年后由中部向东西部转移;(3)纺织业等三大产业转移特征与产业内企业亏损数量及劳动力转移是紧密相联系的。这些对于我们正确认识产业转移是我国工业化过程中的客观现象,以及只有加快产业有序转移,才有利于促进区域经济协调可持续发展,具有重要的现实意义。     

加入WTO对中国工业就业的影响及对策

“入世”对我国工业就业的影响更主要地体现在调整就业结构，转换就业体制和发育劳动力市场等方面。中国要采取积极政策措施弱化“入世”对工业就业的冲击，通过深入改革调整就业结构，通过完善社会保障制度和实施积极劳动政策健全劳动力市场体系，通过激励创业扩大就业，使“入世”成为第国调整工业就业结构，健全劳动力市场体系的促进力量。     

Models of International Labor Standards

This article examines existing models of the regulation of international labor standards in the context of international trade. The article first focuses on conceptual and theoretical notions of the international regulation of labor standards. Four existing models of international labor regulations are then examined: the legislative model, the trade sanctions model, the multilateral enforcement model, and the voluntary standards model. The theoretical issues raised and the characteristics of the four models are then used to develop a suggested structure for the international regulation of labor standards in a world of free trade.     

中国劳动要素配置扭曲程度的测量

本文测算了我国及省际的劳动力资源配置扭曲程度。全国总体劳动力配置扭曲程度、城乡劳动力扭曲程度大致呈现波浪式下降,城市内劳动力扭曲程度则呈现阶段性增加的态势,城乡劳动力扭曲是导致劳动力配置扭曲的主要因素;从全国劳动力配置扭曲贡献因素来看,各产业间劳动边际生产力的差异直接反映了劳动力资源配置扭曲,而各产业内部所形成的劳动资源扭曲在总体上具有消减作用;进一步观察各产业内和产业间的扭曲状况,可见第一、三产业内劳动力资源扭曲程度长期并不高,但近年来增加态势明显,第二产业扭曲程度较高,但有下降趋势,而部门间的扭曲程度则呈现缓慢增长特点。从省际来看,各省份总体和城乡劳动力扭曲程度呈下降趋势,而城市则呈现增加态势,在扭曲特点上,一方面存在收敛性特点,另一方面又存在东部、中部和西部地区差别。进一步将人力资本因素考虑进去,可以发现,我国劳动力资源配置扭曲程度会有所下降。通过上面的研究,可以得到一些有益的政策启示。     

The ‘Railroad Problem’ and the Interstate Commerce Act

The emergence of railroads presented a problem for the developing economic profession. Railroads, by their very nature, often had a localized monopoly. The check that competition was expected to impose on firm behavior was singularly lacking. At the same time, railroads in the United States were national in scope and thus affected interstate commerce. The Interstate Commerce Act and the Commission spawned by the Act represented the first halting steps towards coping with the monopoly power that was a consequence of the Second Industrial revolution. In this paper, the views of prominent economic and legal thinkers regarding the proper legal framework for railroads are reviewed.     

Sidney and Beatrice Webb's Institutional Theory of Labor Markets and Wage Determination

Sydney and Beatrice Webb were among the most influential institutional labor economists of the pre‐World War II period yet this portion of their work has fallen out of sight for more than a half‐century. This paper reconstructs the Webbs' theory of labor markets and wage determination and explains how it differs from the rival neoclassical labor theory of Alfred Marshall. Key institutional components of their theory are developed, such as rent theory, institutional pyramid, chain of bargains, inequality of bargaining power, unemployed residuum, and common rule. The Webbs' theory is then used to explain the operation of labor markets and why in the absence of regulation they generate numerous social problems, including widespread poverty wages, excessive work hours and injuries, substantial unemployment, and human capital exploitation. Also described is the set of labor policies the Webbs advocate to solve these problems. Implications for modern labor theory and policy are developed.     

Immigration and Informal Labor

We develop state‐level proxies for informal employment using differences between measures of self‐reported employment and officially sanctioned employment. In construction and landscaping, industries associated with under‐the‐table labor, we develop proxies for informal work based on productivity per officially sanctioned worker. We relate each set of proxies for informal employment to changes in immigrant population and composition. We find some evidence that immigration is associated with informal employment generally and in the construction industry when prevailing wages are low. States with high concentrations of low‐skilled male immigrants have higher levels of informal employment in the landscaping industry.     

Industrialization, Female Labor Force Participation, and the Modern Division of Labor by Sex

We examine the effect of industrialization on female labor force participation for 62 countries. Two hypotheses are tested: the emancipation hypothesis and the U-shaped hypothesis. Our results support the U-shaped hypothesis insofar as shifts in the distribution of occupations in early industrialization decrease female labor force participation by removing women from agriculture while excluding them from occupations in manufacturing and management. We further suggest that different paths to industrialization may have different effects on female labor force participation.     

LDC Labor Markets: Applications of Internal Labor Market Theory

This article does not attempt, nor has it delivered, a complete theory for the labor market in Egypt, let alone for LDC labor markets in general. The macro-model developed here serves mainly to demonstrate the diaculties involved in formulating macro-theories for LDC labor markets that, while necessarily simple, can still claim realism when confronted with certain fundamental “stylized h t s. Our considerations have, moreover, been limited to LDCs with mixed economies, using Egypt as the example. Hence, large-scale modern industry was assumed to belong to the public sector which then emerges as the country dominant, nonagricultural employer. Agriculture is the second large and relatively homogeneous sector, in Egypt dominated by small holdings. In-between we find the private, nonagricultural sector, overwhelmingly dominated by small-scale enterprises with large numbers of the self-employed, and with trade as the most important single activity. Labor is (in Egypt) generally unorganized or enrolled in government-controlled unions, active mainly in the public sector and without much real say in matters of wages and salaries. It is in this specific institutional setting that I have tried to discuss the application of internal labor market theory. This theory has, to the best of my understanding, nothing to offer by way of explaining public sector behavior (which is of crucial importance for wage and employment formation in a mixed economy). However, adapted to the circumstances, internal labor market theory goes a long way toward explaining wages and employment in agriculture and the “informal” small-scale sector. Our considerations, tentative though they are, do not point to any single, dominant labor market mechanism that could form the basis for a simple macro-theory. Wage flexibility differs greatly between sectors, overstaEng may be a more important phenomenon than unemployment in some activities, and unemployment may be of both the voluntary and involuntary variety, with withdrawals from the labor market related to well-defined reserve wages, and open unemployment related to internal labor market behavior. These considerations are based more on loose impressions than on solid facts. Further theorizing may be needed, but the development of labor market theory for LDCs has undoubtedly reached a point where progress depends critically upon painstaking empirical studies of basic labor market institutions such as employment and wage forms and responses, bargaining procedures, and conditions of both labor and output markets for small private enterprises in particular countries. Considerable work has been done in India but even here much remains for investigation. Studies of specific countries may, even for LDCs in rapid, turbulent transformation, disclose ongoing changes in institutions that for a full understanding of the labor market may be more important than the institutions themselves. Existing wage theory has little to offer for the analysis of such institutional change, but something may be learned from the American institutional school in labor economics whose leading exponent we are paying homage to with these papers.     

劳动力外移、国际贸易与产业结构调整——基于1984—2004年中国数据的协整分析与格兰杰因果检验

伴随着经济全球化进程的不断加快,劳动力外移的浪潮不断高涨,对世界经济和国际贸易的发展带来了巨大的促进作用。近年来中国劳动力外移的数量同样迅猛增加,对中国经济的作用日趋彰显。本文在总结前人观点的基础上,利用1984—2004年的数据对中国的劳动力外移和对外贸易进行了协整分析和格兰杰因果检验,得出结论:我国劳动力外移和对外贸易之间的原因视不同的产业分别呈替代和互补关系,从而对我国产业结构的调整提出了不同的要求与发展思路。     

Labor Inspections in the Developing World: Stylized Facts from the Enterprise Survey

This paper empirically explores the incidence of labor inspections across registered firms in 72 developing countries. Results show that larger firms are more likely to be inspected than smaller firms. Interestingly, inspections are less likely to occur among firms with a larger share of low‐skilled workers, and that operate in industries with more tax evasion. We explore the heterogeneity of these findings across income and geographic groups, and conclude by briefly discussing the consistency of the stylized facts with competing theories of inspection agencies’ behavior.     

Supercenters,Unionized Labor,and Performance in Food Retail

This study examines the impact of unionized labor on supermarket performance, as measured by profit and sales, accounting for the competitive presence of supercenters. The results confirm prior research that shows that supercenters have negative effects on supermarket performance. Unionized supermarkets generally outperform nonunionized supermarkets. However this effect disappears when accounting for supercenters, largely because unionized stores are less likely to compete with supercenters. I find no evidence for a significant union effect on supermarket performance. The deleterious effects of supercenters are stronger for unionized stores. Unionized supermarkets utilize less full‐time labor and more labor‐saving technology than do nonunionized ones.     

从分工到模块化:经济系统演进的思考

在信息技术和网络经济迅速发展的今天,“模块化”的概念已开始成为经济学、经营学专家之间最为热门的话题之一。甚至,人们认为:“模块化”极具可能彻底改变现存产业、企业结构、经济系统。本文以分工和模块化的关系为切入点,在综合比较模块化和分工差异的基础上,阐释了分工结构与模块化结构两者的联系。进而,从主导资源变动角度揭示了经济系统结构性演化的路径和特征。     

资本深化、产业结构与中国城市劳动生产率

提高城市化质量和劳动产出效率是中国未来经济发展的必然选择。然而目前关于城市劳动生产率的研究大多是基于发达国家城市化平稳期假定做出的,这与中国当前发展情境不符。本文在城市产出总量函数中引入了资本存量和产业结构变量,考察快速城市化时期的资本存量、劳动投入、产业结构和城市规模等关键经济变量对城市劳动生产率的影响。基于中国1995—2010年地级以上城市市辖区数据,本文发现:劳均资本存量、产业结构和城市规模等因素对中国城市劳动生产率的提升有显著作用,并且呈现阶段性和趋势性特征。总体上看,资本深化的作用最大但呈缓慢下降态势,产业结构和城市规模的作用为正且呈"倒U型"变动,而人口集聚呈"规模报酬递增",要素投入呈"规模报酬递减"现象。     

Decision Making in Employment and Labor Arbitration

This experimental study examined the labor and employment arbitration decisions of four groups of arbitrators: (1) employment arbitrators who resolve disputes involving nonunion employees, (2) labor arbitrators who arbitrate cases in which an employee is represented by a union, (3) arbitrators in the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA), and (4) students as a comparison of nonarbitrator decision makers with experienced arbitrators. A 2 ×2 ×4 factorial design was used, crossing arbitrator group with discipline standard and sex of the grievant. Results indicate that employment artibrators reinstate the grievant significantly less frequently than other arbitrators; however, the findings also reveal that all arbitrators make more favorable decisions under a just‐cause standard than under the newer META standard of discipline.