IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ndjtrf/207350.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rail Market Share of Grain and Oilseed Transportation

Author

Listed:
  • Prater, Marvin E.
  • Sparger, Adam
  • Bahizi, Pierre
  • O’Neil, Daniel Jr.

Abstract

The share of the grain and oilseed harvest moved by rail has been declining since 1980, when the Federal Motor Carrier Act and the Staggers Rail Act were passed. Large structural changes associated with these acts affected the decline over the following two decades. Yet, even though the large structural changes had already taken place by 2000, the rail market share of grain and oilseed transportation has continued to decline. This paper develops a state-level statistical model for 21 of the top grain-producing states (which produce 86.6% of all grain and oilseeds) to investigate which major factors have been responsible for the decrease in the rail market share of grain and oilseed transportation since 2001. Twenty variables are tested in the model, and 10 are found to have a statistically significant impact on rail market share. Of these, three are most important in the decrease of rail market share: ethanol production, biodiesel production, and the concentration of animal feeding.

Suggested Citation

  • Prater, Marvin E. & Sparger, Adam & Bahizi, Pierre & O’Neil, Daniel Jr., 2013. "Rail Market Share of Grain and Oilseed Transportation," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 52(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ndjtrf:207350
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.207350
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/207350/files/2013v52n2_07_RailMarketShare.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.207350?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. MacDonald, James M., 1989. "Effects of railroad deregulation on grain transportation," Technical Bulletins 312302, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Tun-Hsiang (Edward) Yu & Chad E. Hart, 2009. "2007/08 Iowa Grain and Biofuel Flow Study: A Survey Report, The," Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) Publications (archive only) 09-sr103, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    3. Wilson, William W., 1998. "U.S. Grain Handling And Transportation System: Factors Contributing To The Dynamic Changes In The 1980s And 1990s," AE Series 23081, North Dakota State University, Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics.
    4. Bitzan, John & Vachal, Kimberly & VanWechel, Tamara & Vinje, Dan, 2003. "The Differential Effects of Rail Rate Deregulation U.S. Corn, Wheat and Soybean Markets," MPC Reports 231695, North Dakota State University, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Schwalbe Ulrich & Peitz Martin, 2016. "Kollaboratives Wirtschaften oder Turbokapitalismus?: Zur Ökonomie der Sharing economy," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 232-252, September.
    2. Li, Xishu & Zuidwijk, Rob & de Koster, M.B.M, 2023. "Optimal competitive capacity strategies: Evidence from the container shipping market," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Ndembe, Elvis & Bitzan, John D., 2022. "A shadow price approach examining service quality in a heavily captive U.S. freight transportation market: The case of grain transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-10.
    4. Sichao Jiang & James Nolan & Wesley W. Wilson, 2022. "Exit Decisions in the Canadian Grain Elevator Industry," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-19, March.
    5. Nash, Chris A. & Smith, Andrew S.J. & van de Velde, Didier & Mizutani, Fumitoshi & Uranishi, Shuji, 2014. "Structural reforms in the railways: Incentive misalignment and cost implications," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 16-23.
    6. Peitz, Martin & Schwalbe, Ulrich, 2016. "Zwischen Sozialromantik und Neoliberalismus: Zur Ökonomie der Sharing-Economy," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-033, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lee Pinkowitz & Rohan Williamson, 2016. "The Staggers Act and Firm Performance: Long-Run Evidence," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 49(2), pages 161-202, September.
    2. Wilson, Wesley W. & Wilson, William W., 2001. "Deregulation, rate incentives, and efficiency in the railroad market," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, January.
    3. Wilson, Wesley W. & Wilson, William W., 1998. "Deregulation And Innovation In Railroad Shipping Of Agricultural Commodities: 1972-1995," AE Series 23090, North Dakota State University, Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics.
    4. John Bitzan & Wesley Wilson, 2007. "Industry costs and consolidation: efficiency gains and mergers in the U.S. railroad industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 30(2), pages 81-105, March.
    5. Vachal, Kimberly & Bitzan, John, 2000. "The Long-Term Availability of Railroads Services for U.S. Agriculture," UGPTI Department Publication 231803, North Dakota State University, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute.
    6. Vachal, Kimberly & Bitzan, John, 1997. "Implications of a North American Grain Marketing System for Prairie Transportation and Elevators," MPC Reports 231802, North Dakota State University, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute.
    7. Bitzan, John & Vachal, Kimberly & VanWechel, Tamara & Vinje, Dan, 2003. "The Differential Effects of Rail Rate Deregulation U.S. Corn, Wheat and Soybean Markets," MPC Reports 231695, North Dakota State University, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute.
    8. John W. Mayo & David E. M. Sappington, 2016. "Regulation in a ‘Deregulated’ Industry: Railroads in the Post-Staggers Era," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 49(2), pages 203-227, September.
    9. James MacDonald, 2013. "Railroads and Price Discrimination: The Roles of Competition, Information, and Regulation," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 43(1), pages 85-101, August.
    10. Prater, Marvin E., 2001. "The Implications for U.S. Agriculture of Long-Term Trends in Railroad Service," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 40(4).
    11. Hughes, Jonathan E., 2011. "The higher price of cleaner fuels: Market power in the rail transport of fuel ethanol," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 123-139, September.
    12. Schmidt, Stephen, 2001. "Market structure and market outcomes in deregulated rail freight markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(1-2), pages 99-131, January.
    13. Lawrence J. White, 1990. "Problems Of The Fslic: A Former Policy Maker'S View," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 8(2), pages 62-81, April.
    14. José A. Gómez-Ibáñez, 2016. "Open Access to Infrastructure Networks: The Experience of Railroads," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 49(2), pages 311-345, September.
    15. James Gaisford & Stefan Lutz, 2007. "A Multi-Product Framework Generating Waves of Mergers and Divestitures," ICER Working Papers 36-2007, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    16. Wesley W. Wilson & Frank A. Wolak, 2018. "Benchmark Regulation of Multiproduct Firms: An Application to the Rail Industry," NBER Working Papers 25268, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Vachal, Kimberly, 2015. "Northern Plains Grain Farm Tuck Marketing Patterns," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 54(3).
    18. Alexei Alexandrov & Russell Pittman & Olga Ukhaneva, 2018. "Pricing of Complements in the U.S. Freight Railroads: Cournot Versus Coase," EAG Discussions Papers 201801, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
    19. Bitzan, John D. & Wilson, Wesley W., 2007. "A Hedonic Cost Function Approach to Estimating Railroad Costs," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 69-95, January.
    20. Prater, Marvin E. & Casavant, Ken & Jessup, Eric & Blanton, Bruce & Bahizi, Pierre & Nibarger, Daniel & Weingram, Isaac, 2010. "Rail Competition Changes Since the Staggers Act," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 49(3).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public Economics;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:ndjtrf:207350. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.trforum.org/journal/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.