Research Resources by Issue

Scanned out-of-copyright works, and links to other resources by topic, are available here. Other sections of my web site have information about my papers, technical materials, data, etc.  Economics research resources on other web sites include Resources for Economists on the Internet, NetEc, NBER, and EconLinks.

Topics: Progressive cost reduction (aka learning curves)

Industries: Antibiotics (US) Automobile manufacturing (US) Information technology consultancies (UK) Lighting manufacturing - light emitting diodes and bulbs (world) Tire manufacturing (US) Television receiver manufacturing (world)

Progressive cost reduction (aka learning curves):

• A classic but overlooked paper by Stern (1933).

Automobile manufacturing industry in the US:

• Historical research available here:
  • Ralph C. Epstein, The Automobile Industry: Its Economic and Commercial Development, A.W. Shaw Company, Chicago and New York, 1928 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE PDF FILE (14MB).
  • Lawrence H. Seltzer, A Financial History of the American Automobile Industry: A Study of the Ways in which the Leading American Producers of Automobiles Have Met their Capital Requirements, The Riverside Press, Cambridge MA, 1928 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE PDF FILE (36MB).
  • General Motors Corporation, The Dynamics of Automobile Demand, General Motors Corporation, New York, 1939 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE PDF FILE (8MB).
• Useful sources you might overlook for research on the early US automobile industry:
  • Standard Catalog of American Cars, 3 volumes with varying authors, for 1805-1942, 1946-1975, and 1976-1999, Krause Publications (check bookstores for the latest editions).  This definitive encyclopedia of American automobiles provides rich details not only on nearly every American automobile produced but also on the entrepreneurs and businesses that made those cars.
  • Harold Katz, The Decline of Competition in the Automobile Industry, 1920-1940, Arno Press, New York, 1977.  This was the author's 1970 PhD dissertation at Columbia University.
  • Philip Hillyer Smith, Wheels within Wheels: A Short History of American Car Manufacturing, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1968.  This includes a well-crafted early list of American automobile manufacturers; in my PhD work (see below) I chose this list above all others to analyze firm entry and survival in the industry.
• Kenneth L. Simons' work on the automobile industry includes:
  • "Technological Extinctions of Industrial Firms: An Inquiry into their Nature and Causes," Industrial and Corporate Change, vol. 6 no. 2, March 1997, pp. 379-460, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Industry Shakeouts and Technological Change," International Journal of Industrial Organization, vol. 23 no. 1-2, February 2005, pp. 23-43, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Innovation and Industry Shakeouts," Business and Economic History, vol. 25 no. 1, Fall 1996, pp. 81-89, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Shakeouts: Firm Survival and Technological Change in New Manufacturing Industries," PhD dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Social & Decision Sciences, September 1995.  
  • "Shakeouts, Innovation, and Industrial Strategy and Policy," Australian Economic Review, vol. 40 no. 1, March 2007, pp. 106-112. 

Tire manufacturing industry in the US:

• Historical research available here:
  • John Dean Gaffey, The Productivity of Labor in the Rubber Tire Manufacturing Industry, Columbia University Press, New York, 1940 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (8MB).
  • Boris Stern, "Labor Productivity in the Automobile Tire Industry", Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 585, July 1933, United States Government Printing Office, Washington DC (noncopyrighted US government publication).
  • Ralph C. Epstein, Concentration and Price Trends in the Rubber Tire Industry, 1930-47, for submission to the Federal Trade Commission by the attorneys for the four major US tire manufacturers, 1949 (no copyright indicated, and copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (10MB).
  • Leonard E. Carlsmith, The Economic Characteristics of Rubber Tire Production, no publisher indicated (self-published), New York, 1934 (printed and copyright-dated 1935) (this was a 1934 PhD dissertation at Columbia University) (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (10MB).
  • Richard Glenn Gettell, Pluralistic Competition: With an Illustrative Case Study of the Rubber Tire Industry, PhD dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, 1933 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (13MB).
  • Warren W. Leigh, Some Marketing Problems of the United States Automobile Tire Industry and Some of their Effects Upon That Industry Since 1922, PhD dissertation, Northwestern University, 1936 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (18MB).
  • William Robert Spriegel, Replacement Demand for Automobile Tires, PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, 1934 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (9MB).
  • Henry Clemens Pearson, Rubber Machinery: An Encyclopedia of Machines Used in Rubber Manufacture, The India Rubber World, New York, 1915 (now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (20MB).
  • D. H. Killeffer, Banbury the Master Mixer, Palmerton Publishing Co., New York, 1962 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (11MB).
  • Irvin Sobel, Economic Impact of Collective Bargaining upon the Rubber Tire Industry, PhD dissertation, University of Chicago, 1951 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (5MB).
  • Robert Victor Mitchell, A Study of Countervailing Power with Special Reference to the Tire and Tube Industry, PhD dissertation, University of Illinois, 1957 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (6MB).
  • Fremont A. Shull, Jr., The Advertising Appropriation in the Rubber Tire Industry: A Study in Decision-Making, PhD dissertation, Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, 1958 (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright), here are selected pages. VERY LARGE FILE (4MB).
• Kenneth L. Simons' work on the tire industry includes:
  • "The Making of an Oligopoly: Firm Survival and Technological Change in the Evolution of the U.S. Tire Industry," Journal of Political Economy, vol. 108 no. 4, August 2000, pp. 728-760, with Steven Klepper.
  • "Technological Extinctions of Industrial Firms: An Inquiry into their Nature and Causes," Industrial and Corporate Change, vol. 6 no. 2, March 1997, pp. 379-460, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Industry Shakeouts and Technological Change," International Journal of Industrial Organization, vol. 23 no. 1-2, February 2005, pp. 23-43, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Innovation and Industry Shakeouts," Business and Economic History, vol. 25 no. 1, Fall 1996, pp. 81-89, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Shakeouts: Firm Survival and Technological Change in New Manufacturing Industries," PhD dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Social & Decision Sciences, September 1995.  
• Data on the tire industry used for the above article in JPE.

Television receiver manufacturing industry:

• Some useful sources (incomplete list) - PhD dissertations are among the most useful:
  • Erik Arnold, Competition and Technological Change in the Television Industry: An Empirical Evaluation of Theories of the Firm, Macmillan, London, 1985. A detailed and careful analysis, mostly focused on the United Kingdom.
  • Gary E. Willard, A Comparison of Survivors and Non-survivors under Conditions of Large-scale Withdrawal in the U.S. Color Television Set Industry, PhD dissertation, Purdue University, 1982.
  • Yudhishter Datta, Competitive Strategy and Performance of Firms in the US Television Set Industry: 1950-60, PhD dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1971.
  • Corey Patrick Carbonara, A Historical Perspective of Management, Technology and Innovation in the American Television Receiver Industry, PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, 1989.
  • Jonathan D. Levy, Diffusion of Technology and Patterns of International Trade: The Case of Television Receivers, PhD dissertation, Yale University, 1981.
  • James Howard Wooster, Industrial Policy and International Competitiveness: A Case Study of U.S. - Japanese Competition in the Television Receiver Manufacturing Industry, PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, 1986.
  • Vincent A. LaFrance, The United States Television Receiver Industry: United States versus Japan, 1960-1980, PhD dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1985.
  • David Schwartzman, The Japanese Television Cartel: A Study Based on Matsushita v. Zenith, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1993.
  • Stanley S. Miller, David C.D. Rogers, et al., Manufacturing Policy: A Casebook of Major Production Problems in Six Selected Industries, Richard D. Irwin, Homewood IL, 1964. A useful primer on assembly/manufacturing methods for both television receivers and picture tubes.
  • Rhonda J. Crane, The Politics of International Standards: France and the Color TV War, Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood NJ, 1979.
  • Bradley Francis Chisholm, The CBS Color Television Venture: A Study of Failed Innovation in the Broadcasting Industry, PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1987.
• Kenneth L. Simons' work on the television receiver industry includes:
  • "Dominance by Birthright: Entry of Prior Producers and Competitive Ramifications in the U.S. Television Receiver Industry," Strategic Management Journal, vol. 21 no. 10-11, October-November 2000, pp. 997-1016, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Technological Extinctions of Industrial Firms: An Inquiry into their Nature and Causes," Industrial and Corporate Change, vol. 6 no. 2, March 1997, pp. 379-460, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Industry Shakeouts and Technological Change," International Journal of Industrial Organization, vol. 23 no. 1-2, February 2005, pp. 23-43, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Innovation and Industry Shakeouts," Business and Economic History, vol. 25 no. 1, Fall 1996, pp. 81-89, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Shakeouts: Firm Survival and Technological Change in New Manufacturing Industries," PhD dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Social & Decision Sciences, September 1995.  
  • "Predictable Cross-Industry Heterogeneity in Industry Dynamics," in Albert N. Link and F. M. Scherer, eds., Essays in Honor of Edwin Mansfield: The Economics of R&D, Innovation and Technological Change, Springer, 2005. 
• Data on the TV set industry used for the above article in SMJ.

Antibiotics industry in the US:

• Historical research available here:
  • Federal Trade Commission, Economic Report on Antibiotics Manufacture, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1958 (noncopyrighted US government publication). VERY LARGE PDF FILE (20MB).
• Kenneth L. Simons' work on the penicillin industry includes:
  • "Technological Extinctions of Industrial Firms: An Inquiry into their Nature and Causes," Industrial and Corporate Change, vol. 6 no. 2, March 1997, pp. 379-460, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Industry Shakeouts and Technological Change," International Journal of Industrial Organization, vol. 23 no. 1-2, February 2005, pp. 23-43, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Innovation and Industry Shakeouts," Business and Economic History, vol. 25 no. 1, Fall 1996, pp. 81-89, with Steven Klepper. 
  • "Shakeouts: Firm Survival and Technological Change in New Manufacturing Industries," PhD dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Social & Decision Sciences, September 1995.  

Information technology consultancy industry in the United Kingdom:

• Kenneth L. Simons' work on the IT consultancy industry includes:
  • "Information Technology and Dynamics of Industry Structure: The UK IT Consulting Industry as a Contemporary Specimen," manuscript, 2002. 

Light bulb and LED lighting manufacturing industry:

• Historical research available here:
  • James R. Bright, Automation and Management, Harvard University, Boston, 1958, chapter 3 comparing automation in electric lamp versus shoe manufacturing (copyright not renewed, now out of copyright). VERY LARGE FILE (2MB).
• Historical research available from the UK Competition Commission:
  • Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission, Report on the Supply of Electric Lamps, His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1951.
  • The Monopolies Commission, Electric Lamps: Second Report on the Supply of Electric Lamps, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1968.
• Kenneth L. Simons' work on the lighting industry (with special attention to LED lighting) includes:
  • "Lighting Industry," in Innovation in Global Industries - U.S. Firms Competing in a New World, National Academies Press, 2008, pp. 163-205, with Susan Sanderson, Judith Walls, and Yin-Yi Lai. This volume is a focus report of the National Academies. Covered in Business Week (slide show gives industry-specific coverage). 

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