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Tracks across Continents, Paths through History

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  • Puffert, Douglas J.

Abstract

A standard track gauge—the distance between the two rails—enables connecting railway lines to exchange traffic. But despite the benefits of standardization, early North American railways used six different gauges extensively, and even today breaks of gauge at national borders and within such countries as India and Australia are expensive burdens on commerce. In Tracks across Continents, Paths through History , Douglas J. Puffert offers a global history of railway track gauge, examining early choices and the dynamic process of diversity and standardization that resulted. Drawing on the economic theory of path dependence, and grounded in economic, technical, and institutional realities, this innovative volume traces how early historical events, and even idiosyncratic personalities, have affected choices of gauge ever since, despite changing technology and understandings of what gauge is optimal. Puffert also uses this history to develop new insights in the theory of path dependence. Tracks across Continents, Paths through History will be essential reading for anyone interested in how history and economics inform each other.

Suggested Citation

  • Puffert, Douglas J., 2009. "Tracks across Continents, Paths through History," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226685090, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:bkecon:9780226685090
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    Cited by:

    1. Dan Bogart & Latika Chaudhary & Alfonso Herranz-Loncan, 2015. "The Growth Contribution of Colonial Indian Railways in Comparative Perspective," CEH Discussion Papers 033, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    2. Nicholas Sheard, 2022. "The Railway Gauge Muddle in Australia," Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre Working Papers g-327, Victoria University, Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre.
    3. Timothy Simcoe & Jeremy Watson, 2019. "Forking, Fragmentation, and Splintering," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 283-297, December.
    4. Daniel P. Gross, 2020. "Collusive Investments in Technological Compatibility: Lessons from U.S. Railroads in the Late 19th Century," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(12), pages 5683-5700, December.
    5. Paul Caruana-Galizia & Jordi Mart�-Henneberg, 2013. "European regional railways and real income, 1870-1910: a preliminary report," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(2), pages 167-196, June.
    6. Martí-Henneberg, Jordi, 2013. "European integration and national models for railway networks (1840–2010)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 126-138.
    7. Dan Bogart, 2013. "The Transportation Revolution in Industrializing Britain: A Survey," Working Papers 121306, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.

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