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Oligopoly Agreement and the Timing of American Railroad Construction

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  • Harley, C. Knick

Abstract

The railroads in the American West were constructed in a few concentrated building booms. This timing of construction resulted from the alternate creation and collapse of imperfect property rights to rights of way in partially settled areas. These “property rights” arose from strategic behavior within the railroad oligopoly. When enforcement costs of cooperative action were low, the railroads were able to create rents by avoiding construction ahead of demand. When enforcement became difficult, however, construction was the only way to capture rents on unbuilt lines so a construction boom ensued.

Suggested Citation

  • Harley, C. Knick, 1982. "Oligopoly Agreement and the Timing of American Railroad Construction," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(4), pages 797-823, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:42:y:1982:i:04:p:797-823_02
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    Cited by:

    1. Barry Eichengreen., 1997. "The Baring Crisis in a Mexican Mirror," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers C97-084, University of California at Berkeley.
    2. Alfonso Herranz Loncán, 2004. "La dotación de infraestructuras en España, (1844-1935)," Estudios de Historia Económica, Banco de España, number 45, November.
    3. Cantillo, Miguel, 2016. "Villains or Heroes? Private Banks and Railroads after the Sherman Act," MPRA Paper 79354, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Kenneth Boyer, 2013. "Understanding ICC Rate Structure Regulation: A Spatial Analysis," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 43(1), pages 121-144, August.
    5. Barry Eichengreen, 2011. "Escaping the middle-income trap," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 409-419.
    6. Miguel Cantillo Simon, 2017. "Villains or Heroes? Private Banks and Railroads after the Sherman Act," Working Papers 201701, Universidad de Costa Rica, revised Jan 2017.
    7. C. Jacobs-Crisioni & C. C. Koopmans, 2016. "Transport link scanner: simulating geographic transport network expansion through individual investments," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 265-301, July.

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