The Emergence of Oligopoly: Sugar Refining as a Case Study

by Alfred S. Eichner

Overview

Originally published in 1969. In describing the emergence of oligopoly, Professor Eichner has written a history of the American sugar refining industry, one based in part on records of the United States Department of Justice. Sugar refining was one of the first major industries to be consolidated, and its expertise was in many ways typical of the development of other industries. Eichner's focus is on the changing pattern of industrial organization.

This study is based on a unique four-stage model of the process by which the industrial structure of the American economy has evolved. The first part of the book traces the early history of the sugar refining industry and argues that the classical model of a competitive industry is inherently unstable once large fixed investments are required. The more closely sugar refining approximated this model, the more unstable the model became in practice. This instability led, in 1887, to the formation of the sugar trust. The author contends that the trust was formed not to exploit economies of scale but with the intent of achieving control over prices. In the second part of the book, Eichner describes the political and legal reaction that transformed monopoly into oligopoly. This sequence of events is best understood in terms of a learning curve in which the response of businessmen over time was related to the changing institutional environment in which they were forced to operate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421430409
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2019
Pages:	402
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Alfred S. Eichner was a professor of economics at Rutgers University. He was a founding member of the post-Keynesian school of economics.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. The Larger Framework
Chapter 2. The Emergence of a Competitive Industry
Chapter 3. Competition and Instability
Chapter 4. The Trust is Born
Chapter 5. Why Consolidation
Chapter 6. A Change in Legal Form
Chapter 7. Culmination and Condonation
Chapter 8. The Problem of Entry
Chapter 9. The Exercise of Control
Chapter 10. The Old Order Passeth
Chapter 11. The Acceptance of Oligopoly
Chapter 12. Historical Perspectives
Appendixes
A. Sugar Refineries Located in New York City, 1868-87
B. Sugar Refineries Located in Philadelphia, 1869-87
C. Sugar Refineries Located in Boston, 1868-87
D. Average Prices of Raw and Refined Sugar for Selected Years, and the Margin between Them
E. Domestic Sugar-Market Shares
F. Havemeyer and American Sugar Refining Company Holdings in Sugar Beet Companies, 1907
Bibliography
Index
Maps
1. The American Sugar Refining Company and the Railroads, 1906
2. Beet Factory Sites in California, 1907
3. Beet Factory Sites in the Utah-Idaho Area (Intermountain Region), 1907
4. Principal Cane-Refining Centers and "Natural" Market Territories, 1907
5. Beet Factory Sites in the United States, 1907