Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
Retrospectives: Fixed Capital, Railroad Economics and the Critique of the Market
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 8,
no. 3, Summer 1994
(pp. 189–196)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Where average fixed costs are large compared to marginal costs, competition will drive industry into bankruptcy. During the last century, the chaos that competition created within the railroad industry caused many prominent U.S. economists to reject the market in favor of trusts, cartels, and monopolies. They created the American Economic Association to counter the prevailing laissez faire theory. Nonetheless, some, such as J. B. Clark, still wrote in favor of abstract laissez to counter socialist and populist agitation.Citation
Perelman, Michael. 1994. "Retrospectives: Fixed Capital, Railroad Economics and the Critique of the Market." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8 (3): 189–196. DOI: 10.1257/jep.8.3.189JEL Classification
- B19 History of Thought through 1925: Other
- L92 Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
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