Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Mr. Hemphill - Could you please explain your recent post in terms of how it relates to the topic at hand, and whether you intended it for this Open Access thread, or some other thread unrelated to open access? Thanks. <br /> <br />jeaton - thanks for the reference. But in terms of the discussion in question you've got Kneiling's theory backwards. He was refering to manufacturer's oubound transport costs going up and how that would affect the decisions of producers in forcing them to locate closer to their primary markets. You have taken that theory and tried to apply it to a situation of transport costs going down, assuming that a reverse action would take place in that situation, e.g. that firms suddenly gifted with lower transport costs would then relocate farther away from the primary consumption market, ostensibly to take advantage of lower input costs elsewhere. However, the cause and affect is misplaced. If firms move their facilities overseas, it is due to the higher input costs here (labor, energy, materials, regulations, inbound transport costs) compared to overseas. It is NOT due to their outbound transportation costs suddenly going down. <br /> <br />The one fact that you and others are missing is the most important point regarding transport costs here in the U.S.: The reality of the U.S. primary consumption markets is that they have had access to competitive inbound transport services since the heydays of railroading, and most primary consumption markets today have access to two or more Class I rail service providers. In other words, the lower import transport costs are already at hand, and have been since the heyday of railroading. Any action that lowers the captive portion of the U.S. rail network would have no added affect on a firm's decision to relocate overseas, but conversely it would have a positive affect on any decision to stay stateside since those higher captive rate segments would disappear.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag