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Productivity at the post: its drivers and its distribution

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  • E. Grifell-Tatjé
  • C. Lovell

Abstract

We study the economic, financial and distributional performance of the United States Postal Service subsequent to its 1971 reorganization. We investigate the economic sources of productivity change, (technical change, change in cost efficiency, and scale economies), and the distribution of the financial benefits of productivity change (consumers of postal services, postal employees and other resource suppliers, and residual claimants). We find improvements in technology to have been the main driver of, and diseconomies of scale to have been the main drag on, productivity change. We find labor to have been the main beneficiary, and the US Treasury and consumers of postal services the main losers, from postal reorganization.
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Suggested Citation

  • E. Grifell-Tatjé & C. Lovell, 2008. "Productivity at the post: its drivers and its distribution," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 133-158, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:33:y:2008:i:2:p:133-158
    DOI: 10.1007/s11149-007-9051-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Hudon, Marek & Périlleux, Anaïs, 2014. "Surplus distribution and characteristics of social enterprises: Evidence from microfinance," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 147-157.
    2. Antonio Estache & Emili Grifell-Tatjé, 2010. "Assessing the impact of Mali's water privatization across stakeholders," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2010-037, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Jia-Ching Juo, 2014. "Decomposing the change in profit of Taiwanese banks: incorporating risk," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 247-262, April.
    4. Bender, Christian M. & Kalevi Dieke, Alex & Junk, Petra & Niederprüm, Antonia, 2014. "Produktive Effizienz von Postdienstleistern," WIK Discussion Papers 395, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    5. Florian Ploeckl, 2017. "National rules, regional differences? Explaining the regional provision and productivity of a public monopolist: The case of the German Reichspost," Working Papers 17013, Economic History Society.
    6. Florian Ploeckl, 2016. "Uniform Service, Uniform Productivity? Regional Efficiency of the Imperial German Postal, Telegraph, and Telephone Service," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(2), pages 221-243, July.
    7. Grifell-Tatjé, E., 2011. "Profit, productivity and distribution: Differences across organizational forms - The case of Spanish banks," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 72-83, June.
    8. Tochkov, Kiril, 2015. "The efficiency of postal services in the age of market liberalization and the internet: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 35-42.
    9. Ana María Reyna & Hugo J. Fuentes, 2018. "A cost efficiency analysis of the insurance industry in Mexico," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 49-64, February.
    10. Molinos-Senante, María & Maziotis, Alexandros & Sala-Garrido, Ramón, 2020. "Changes in the total costs of the English and Welsh water and sewerage industry: The decomposed effect of price and quantity inputs on efficiency," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity; Profit; Distribution; Postal service; C60; D24; D33; L32;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C60 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - General
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises

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