Category Archives: Microeconomics

Logistics Management keeps us informed. Hours of Service rules for drivers will reduce productivity of the trucking industry.  It’s like the sequester– all firms will be equally cut.  So the owner operators and smaller firms could be at risk financially.  The ATA represents them as well as larger firms.

But hours of service reduction is potentially a safety boost, and will certainly reduce risk on the road for drivers, cargo, and other road users.   It’s a classic problem of tradeoff between economics and external issues not captured well economically.

ATA and FMCSA remain at odds over pending changes to HOS regulations – Article from Logistics Management.

I am teaching Labor Economics this Fall, and it is interesting when strikes occur in your favorite business so frequently. first we had the non-strike on the East coast, and now we have this action.  There’s obvious discontent among workers, and it’s time for companies to pay the piper.

Strikes in recent years are rare events–  very few each year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.  Even rarer are stoppages involving over 1000 workers. Perhaps that is because fewer installations employ over 1000 workers.  but it could be we are at the bottom of a cycle, and the trend will be up.  We are certainly seeing more actions in Europe and in India, too.

Strikers Close Much of Los Angeles Ports for a Third Day | Shipping Tribune.