An Economic History of the American Steel Industry
An Economic History of the American Steel Industry

Author: Robert P. Rogers

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-03-30

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1135969167

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book provides a basic outline of the history of the American steel industry, a sector of the economy that has been an important part of the industrial system. The book starts with the 1830's, when the American iron and steel industry resembled the traditional iron producing sector that had existed in the old world for centuries, and it ends in 2001. The product of this industry, steel, is an alloy of iron and carbon that has become the most used metal in the world. The very size of the steel industry and its position in the modern economy give it an unusual relevance to the economic, social, and political system.

Profitability, Mechanization and Economies of Scale
Profitability, Mechanization and Economies of Scale

Author: Dudley Jackson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-03

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 0429821328

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

First published in 1998, this book introduces a new concept of profitability, called the 'efficiency rate of profit', which is defined as the ratio between the unit net margin and the unit capital requirement and shows how the efficiency rate of profit may be used in the assessment of mechanization and economies of scale. The book also shows how the efficiency rate of profit relates to the financial opportunity cost of investment, thus resolving the long-standing controversy over 'interest as a cost'. Using real-world plant-level data, the book explains fully the process of mechanization, how increasing returns to scale works at the plant level through power rule relating plant or equipment cost to capacity and how and why it is more cost effective to combine mechanization with expanding the scale of production in one combined 'package' of efficiency improvement.