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Airline Deregulation and Laissez-Faire Mythology
Stephen Paul Dempsey , and
Andrew R. Goetz
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Straight and Level: Practical Airline Economics
ASIN: 0899306934 |
Book Description
Airline deregulation is a failure, conclude Professors Dempsey and Goetz. They assault the conventional wisdom in this provocative book, finding that the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, championed by a profound political movement which also advocated the deregulation of the bus, trucking, rail, and pipeline industries, failed to achieve the promises of its proponents. Only now is the full impact of deregulation being felt. Airline deregulation has resulted in unprecedented industry concentration, miserable service, a deterioration in labor-management relations, a narrower margin of safety, and higher prices for the consumer. This comprehensive book begins by exploring the strategy, tactics, and egos of the major airline robber barons, including Frank Lorenzo and Carl Icahn. In separate chapters, the strengths, weaknesses, and corporate cultures of each of the major airlines are evaluated. Part Two assesses the political, economic, and social justifications for New Deal regulation of aviation, and its deregulation in the late 1970s. Part Three then addresses the major consequences of deregulation in chapters on concentration, pricing, service, and safety, and Part Four advances a legislative agenda for solving the problems that have emerged. Professors Dempsey and Goetz advocate a middle course of responsible government supervision between the "dead hand of regulation" of the 1930s and the contemporary evil of market Darwinism. The book will be of particular interest to airline and airport industry executives, government officials, and students and scholars in public policy, economics, business, political science, and transportation.
Customer Reviews:
A special Hell for the criminals of the S&L scandal .......2006-02-22
A very humanist approach to the S&L scandal. A great read, Day keeps the audience spellbound as she takes us from Ohio, Maryland all around the problem states. An informative yet intersting read. This could have been written in a dry and factual format, I'm glad it wasn't. I highly recommend this book on the S&L scandal if you want to learn more on the subject, or just a good book to read.
Product Description
Can markets be designed? How significant are they impediments to competition found in different sectors? And how do the politics of market design shape the policies that result? Creating Competitive Markets analyzes these questions across a broad range of sectors, including airlines, electricity, education, and pensions. The contributors mine developments in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan for evidence about when market design--conventionally known as deregulation--works and when it is likely to fail. While deregulation is often touted as a way to remove politics from the sphere of economics and enterprise, creating markets is an inescapably political process. Policymakers cannot simply remove regulations and walk away. They must fashion new institutions and regulations to promote efficiency, equity, and other important goals--all while contending with political interests similar to those that often made old-style regulation ineffective. Rich in analysis and illuminating detail, Creating Competitive Markets reveals the full complexity of this task.
Book Description
In the late 1990s, the formerly staid and monopolistic electric utility industry entered an era of freewheeling competition and deregulation, allowing American consumers to buy electricity from any company offering it. In this book, Richard F. Hirsh explains how and why this radical restructuring has occurred.
Hirsh starts by describing the successful campaign waged by utility managers in the first decade of the twentieth century to protect their industry from competition. The regulated system that emerged had the unanticipated consequence of endowing utility managers with great political and economic power. Seven decades later, a series of largely unanticipated events, including technological stagnation in traditional generating equipment, the 1973 energy crisis, and the rise of the environmental movement, undermined the managers' control of the system. New players, such as academics, environmental advocates, politicians, and potential competitors, wrested control from power company managers by challenging utilities' standing as "natural monopolies" and by questioning whether their firms provided universal benefits. In other words, the once-closed system came under increasing pressure to transform itself.
Hirsh follows the flow of power as this transformation occurred. He also examines the relationship between technological change and regulation, showing how innovations such as cogeneration and renewable energy technologies stimulated questions about the value of government oversight of the system. And he shows how the increasing prominence of ideas such as conservation, energy efficiency, and free markets helped propel the system toward open competition.
Though the new electric utility system is still in its infancy, Hirsh's perceptive account of its birth will help readers think more rationally about its future.
Customer Reviews:
Ambitious.......2001-12-03
This work has an ambitious mission, to shed light on the "power loss" of the electric utility, if you would excuse the pun - powers that be. Since the 1960s, a myriad of factors have lead to their partial downfall - allies of their own gravediggers. Power Loss suffers from three basic problems. First, it only follows events up to 1996, which is just when this industry began to really change to its very foundation. At the end of the book, restructuring is on the verge of happening in California - which is a real problem even today. Power Loss misses out on what may have been the real breakthrough in terms of the deregulation happening in California. Next, the book is both too long and too short and does not spend enough time focusing on how decisions are actually made at regulatory commissions. Lastly, from an economist's perspective, the book falls short. Economists see things from a monetary perspective and would have really liked to see more in this area. However, the linchpin of the book is really the examination of PURPA - and that makes this book worth all the money.
Miguel Llora
A thorough industry introduction.......2000-08-22
I found the book to be a good historical and political account of the electrical power utility industry. Mr. Hirsh provides an interesting account of the creation of the industry and the changes that have led to the current state of the industry (only up to 1996). A considerable amount of the book was given to the inpacts of enviromental and energy efficency groups within the industry. The book was not unduly technical in its presentation, well written, and main ideas were sumerized frequently. As a reader unfamilar with the subject, I was able to follow along well. This book has been very helpful in understanding the current events within this industry.
Book Description
In the midst of the sweltering summer of August 2003, the lights went out across northeast America. From Canada to Philadelphia, houses were plunged into darkness, elevators stalled, subway cars ceased to run, air-conditioners shuddered into silence, and the candle-lit 1890s streets of Brooklyn became a reality once more. Astonishingly, no company or individual has ever been held accountable for what cost affected regions millions of dollars in lost revenue and compensation. The electricity companies involved introduced no new rules, nor a single firing — nothing.
As Gordon Weil explores in Blackout, this was the culmination of a long history of exploitation by the electric industry of its customers, coupled with the seeming indifference and incompetence of the regulators who were supposed to protect them. Weil describes the founding of the original electric monopoly by Edison and his secretary, Insull, and reveals how and why Roosevelt’s efforts to control the company’s excesses failed. Weil continues with the willful failure of the industry to integrate itself into the competitive marketplace; a failure in which the customer remains the biggest loser. Weil concludes that unless the government and the regulators undertake radical legislation, “lights out” remains a distinct possibility for us all.
Book Description
Long hours, low wages, and unsafe workplaces characterized sweatshops a hundred years ago. These same conditions plague American trucking today. Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation exposes the dark side of government deregulation in America's interstate trucking industry. In the years since deregulation in 1980, median earnings have dropped 30% and most long-haul truckers earn less than half of pre-regulation wages. Work weeks average more than sixty hours. Today, America's long-haul truckers are working harder and earning less than at any time during the last four decades. Written by a former long-haul trucker who now teaches industrial relations at Wayne State University, Sweatshops on Wheels raises crucial questions about the legacy of trucking deregulation in America and casts provocative new light on the issue of government deregulation in general.
Customer Reviews:
Long but dead on .......2005-03-24
With the exception of the very first, and very negative review posted about this book, most of the comments from other truckers concerning this book are accurate. At first I was actually expecting a small scattered ranting and raving style book from a former trucker, but this book was more than just a collection of complaints. I suspect the Marietta Georgia comments are from a dispatcher; possibly one I've worked for as a driver out of Atlanta for two years. This book is more of an economics textbook, than a first person account of what a long-haul trucker's life is really about. In fact, this may even be my only complaint; that there wasn't enough ranting, raving, or what some who've never driven cross-country for a living might call whining. The story from a previous reviewer concerning a crack-smoking employee on a forklift (although possibly an exaggeration) brought back some horrible memories of mine, and reminded me in a split second why I quit what was without a doubt the worst job I've ever had. The author's main
focus is that the industry we have today, is the result of deregulation. People with anti-union baises will certainly have a problem with this argument, as well as owner-operators. I would recommend this book to anyone in this profession, as well as a anyone even considering it. The reality is this: a paycheck as high as $700 after working well over 100 hours in a week, is still below minimum wage, and therefore, should not be legal in this country.
This Book Blows!.......2005-03-01
If you are looking for some help in deciding whether to start a career in trucking, this book won't help you (unless you need some emergency toilet paper for the ride). For one...it's outdated and two...it's full of whining and moaning about the good ole' days before deregulation. A thinly disguised "analysis" of what happened turns into a full fledged tantrum about the injustice of it all. If you don't want to truck then DON'T...go work at the Waffle House!
Unacceptable in America - Slave Labor.......2004-06-29
I am 25 year survivor of the long-haul trucking racket, and can only say that the situation is substantially worse than Mr. Belzer asserts. I was finally forced out of the industry in 1998 for actively speaking out against the same types of abuse that he describes in his book. The trucking industry has it's own 'goon squad' that seeks to target, isolate and then eliminate anybody who dare speaks out against unsafe trucks, against coercion of drivers to run illegally and the sub-human wage scale that truckers are forced to labor under. And I don't just mean those companies that employ Teamster drivers, either. The non-union truckload carriers that clog our interstates can become even more vicious, once their crimes against drivers and the public are exposed. I found that I had been blacklisted, and I was being stalked by a small army of paid harassers, intimidators and threat-mongers. I was threatened with death, severe physical harm and other consequences if I ever mentioned the safety, logbook and other scams that occur on a regular basis in this crooked industry. I want to make clear that the DRIVERS are generally not the problem in the industry. It is the dispatchers, management and 'safety' departments of the major truckload companies that pose the greatest threat to the motoring public. Next in line are the major freight shippers - the huge soft drink, paper products, automotive, fresh produce, recycling and grocery distributors are among the worst abusers of the rights and safety of the long-haul trucker. Many times, a driver will have to wait 5 to 8 hours without pay (after all, he's not driving, so he doesn't get a dime for the delay)while some crack-smoking creep on a forklift who makes $19 per hour screws around for hours in a lame attempt to load the waiting driver's trailer. Then the driver has to drive all night and 'back up' his logbook later on to help hide all the waiting time - so as to make it look like he had a nice 10 hour sleep in his sleeper berth. This racket has not changed, nor will it ever change until drivers are paid by the hour and are given an electronic punch card which will assure once and for all that these men and women are finally paid for ALL of their on-duty time. Until then, be aware, the typical driver operates in a state of chronic fatigue or even exhaustion, and your car or SUV can easily be the 'speed bump' that wakes up a semi-comatose driver - after it's too late. You'll then have your 15 minutes of fame - on the 11 o'clock news as the highway patrol and state workers attempt to find the missing body parts of you or your loved ones. The driver will probably be OK, and the sick wheels of the trucking racket will roll on. Until the next 'speed bump' appears, anyway. Drive safely, and keep your distance from the big rigs until the industry is cleaned up once and for all.
Scholarly work based on solid economic analyses.......2004-01-17
Based on reading the first two chapters, I feel this is a scholarly work worth reading. Although Belzer is a former Teamster, in general he does back up his argument with sound economic analysis and where he does make a point about unions, he does this rigourously and in a way that suggests contrary to collecting "rents" and screwing everybody else, in the trucking industry unions are almost a necessity in ensuring that economics for trucking remains healthy.
The thing I like the best about Belzer's book is that he makes it really clear that it's not a case of "bosses screwing workers", but instead the underlying regulatory framework is fundamentally broken in an industry which has a tendency to become hypercompetitive due to the highly commoditized nature of the truckload sector. Another wonderful point is that the exactly same arguments might be applied to the foodservice sector, even if the extent of commoditization might be lower.
The book does get repetitive in some places, if only because fundamentally the economics and mechanisms behind the failure to address equity concerns in a deregulated framework. True marginal costing is economically efficient, but pricing without regards for the opportunity cost of labor is an effective subsidy to the shippers by the truckers. The evidence suggests that truckers do not generally understand their cost base, and desparate conditions can cause individuals to price irrationally "just to keep up the payments". Just as there are regulations regarding wearing seatbelts while driving, social regulation is clearly necessary to prevent unsafe conditions.
This book is well worth a read, especially for those who are not directly involved in transportation, and for those interested in economic regulation and public policy. Belzer has done all of us a great service by writing this book.
So True, So Common, So Sad, SO Dangerous!.......2003-05-27
A former career military man who has worked the most horrendous hours while on active duty, in combat and deployed around the world I lived for 22 years with the common mantra....."We have done so much with so little for so long that we are now attempting the impossible with nothing". I never thought I would be chanting the same mantra as a driver for one of the larger trucking companies in Utah. Thankfully I'm no masochist.
Being reassured that I was not being encouraged to 'cook the books' and being told that safety was foremost, I had to laugh. A former statistician by trade I am no novice at numbers. Many times I found that I was the 'only driver available', the load 'had to get through' I would have to drive a steady 86 mph through Ohio (speed limit of 55) to 'be on time'. This after just dropping off a load and getting ready to bed down for my DOT mandated sleep.
Not being able to 'take the load' branded me as not being a 'team player' and often resulted in my being overlooked when another load came through. You know, 'punishment'?
Receiving a none existing load assignment to a place that had moved then gone out of business three years before. Trying to verify that pickup and being told to 'just get there' when 'there' didn't exist? On LONG ISLAND??
Being from Texas, a drive through the home turf would have been appreciated now and then but I spent my time in the North East. A friend of mine from Pennsylvania was kept on an LA to Florida run. We were not allowed to switch runs.
After emergency surgery, I was told that I could take no convalescent leave since they (the company) were not there to take care of my 'personal vacation needs'.
I find it sad that so many good men and women have died trying to meet a deadline just so company exectives could 'look good'.
I left the trucking industry after we lost a man in an accident while trying to make up time after a snow storm. Remember, the load HAD to be there on time and there is no excuse for weather delays, even freak storms. The man died, his family was left with nothing because he was a loyal driver. The excuse the company gave? He 'wasn't following safety guidlines'.
Kudos for an excellent book. I hope more regulators read it and start fining the trucking companies everytime a trucker gets stopped.
Book Description
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 promised us deregulation and free markets in the telephone, broadcast, and cable TV industry. But critics assail the Act from all sides and the Federal Communications Commission has grown larger than ever.
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- Terrific information about the cable cartel.
- Terrific information about the cable cartel.
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Public Policy Toward Cable Television: The Economics of Rate (AEI Studies in Telecommunications Deregulation)
Thomas W. Hazlett , and
Matthew L. Spitzer
Manufacturer: MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0262082535 |
Book Description
Effective June 1, 1998, The MIT Press no longer distributes titles for the AEI Press. Orders for this book should be placed with:
AEI Press c/o Publishers Resources, Inc. 1224 Heil Quaker Blvd. P.O. Box 7001 La Vergne, TN 37086-7001
Customer Reviews:
Terrific information about the cable cartel........1999-05-22
Dr. Hazlett explicates the dilemmas of free enterprise and government regulation, as they apply to the evil cable mafias, in this witty book. If you get cable tv, you should read this.
Terrific information about the cable cartel........1999-05-22
Dr. Hazlett explicates the dilemmas of free enterprise and government regulation, as they apply to the evil cable mafias, in this witty book. If you get cable tv, you should read this.
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Regulating Finance: The Political Economy of Spanish Financial Policy from Franco to Democracy
Arvid John Lukauskas
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0472108360 |
Book Description
In recent years many countries have liberalized their financial markets as a central element of their efforts to reform their economies and increase their economic growth rates. Financial deregulation leads to a fundamental restructuring of a country's economy and polity, as market forces, not state officials, begin to determine who obtains financial resources and at what cost. A critical question is whether countries can undertake a program of liberalization while undergoing democratic transformation. In this study, Arvid John Lukauskas explores why governments tightly regulate their country's financial system and why they choose to liberalize it.
Using a rational choice approach, Lukauskas contends that public officials provide the dynamic behind the evolution of financial regulation as they seek to retain power and generate public revenue. Lukauskas argues that the nature of a country's political institutions shape the incentives facing politicians and influence whether they seek to regulate closely or liberalize financial markets in the pursuit of their goals. Lukauskas then tests his ideas in an in-depth case study of the evolution of financial policy in Spain, a country that transformed its financial system into a mostly market-based system after years of heavy state intervention, while undergoing a transformation from a dictatorship to a democracy. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that leaders will not undertake structural change during periods of democratization, he finds that leaders in Spain undertook financial liberalization despite opposition from powerful groups, because democratization gave Spanish leaders a strong incentive to improve economic performance through financial reform in order to compete for votes.
This book will be of interest to political scientists and economists interested in studying financial markets and the effects of regime change, including democratization, on economic reform.
Arvid John Lukauskas is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Columbia University.
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Entrepreneurial Management and Public Policy
Edited By Van R. Johnston
Manufacturer: Nova Science Pub Inc
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Binding: Library Binding
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ASIN: 1560728426 |
Book Description
Entrepreneurial Management is transforming the world we live and work in. Public policy and administration as we have known it has been under siege for over two decades now. Traditional public policy and administration have clearly undergone a significant paradigm shift (Kuhn, 1972), leaving many without the standards and practices of the past while searching for guidelines for the future. There are even those who argue that the sectors and their management have become blurred. This book presents and analyzes the increasingly large and significant domain of entrepreneurial management. Its authors focus on investigating its various contributions, problems, issues, dimensions and theories in considerable and meaningful depth. Each of the three parts of this book also has an introduction which integrates the theme of the chapters found therein. These introductions will also highlight the thematic entrepreneurial management contributions, point out problems and issues, note relationships to theory, and highlight the authors primary focuses and contributions.
Books:
- AMERICA, WHY I LOVE HER : " United We Stand, divided We Fall, were Americans, and that says it all" John Wayne
- At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict
- Beauty For Ashes: Receiving Emotional Healing (Revised Edition)
- Buckets of Money: How to Retire in Comfort and Safety
- Complex Inequality: Gender, Class and Race in the New Economy (Perspectives on Gender (New York, N.Y.).)
- Conflict Resolution
- Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy
- Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives
- Distressed Debt Analysis: Strategies for Speculative Investors
- Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work
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