Transportation regulation and public policy by land, sea, and air due Essay

Transportation regulation and public policy by land, sea, and air due to the Deregulation Act of 1978 - Essay Example (Moses, 1989) One of the main reasons for passing regulatory reform bills was to make the lawmakers realize that increased competition would lead to more efficient operations that would not only lower rates in the air, land and sea industries but would also not compromise upon safety issues or quality of service. "Some changes in quality of airline service were, in fact, hoped for. It was commonly believed that after deregulation 1978, the suppression of price competition by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) would foster competition in service quality variables that would be highly uneconomical, such as too early replacement of aircraft and departures at major airports that were excessive in light of existing load factors. It was also asserted that such quality competition would drove the costs up, which would led to proposals to the CAB for relief in the form of fare increases. However, the positive effects of such increases (which were almost always granted in the past before deregulation) on t he profitability of airline operations were soon dissipated by another round of quality competition and increased in costs of operation". (Moses, 1989) In the rail industry, nevertheless, the essence of the regulatory transition problem was never summarized and the expectations were not fulfilled. Presently, the rail industry is subject to substantial sunk costs, since assets are long-lived and specialized to certain geographic markets. Much of the traffic is subjected to effective competition from competing railroads, modes of transportation, origins and destinations, or products. Some shippers, however, are successful in transporting commodities for which rail have a substantial competitive advantage over competing modes, even if they are available in principle. Further, after 1978 deregulation Act these shippers have sunk considerable costs in specific locations or signed contracts with customers or vendors, which make them captive to individual railroads. The difficult problem in the transition is to permit maximum leeway for competitive forces while maintaining a substitute for the regulatory protection that was relied upon by captive shippers when they sank costs. These long-term investments were initially made by the shipper with the presumption of continued regulation and thus without the usual contractual protections against "opportunistic behavior" by the carrier in such circumstances". (Baker et al, 1991, p. 12) "In the rail industry, after 1978 the ICC does not now assume jurisdiction over rates unless it has made a determination that the rail carrier possesses market dominance over the traffic. Section 4 addresses issues in market dominance determination, particularly the role of the revenue/variable cost ratio". The history of railroad regulatory policy may be largely summed up as an attempt to resolve the conflicting objectives.

Marked Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marked Women - Essay Example Marking of women discriminates them and discourage them from airing their views. My opinion is that Tannen’s work is an exploration of a largely ignored topic on gender discrimination. Her work is derived from a close observation of men and women at a working conference. The formal setting of the conference is perfect for exhibiting gender stereotypes, which are dominant in the male-dominated business settings. Marking is also inherent in women as most of them struggle to portray a certain image for them to feel acceptable in some settings. More fascinating was the mention of Ralph Fascold’s book and his opinion on the issue. Marked means possession of a unique feature that distinguishes an individual from the rest. Biological orientation makes men marked owing to the possession of a Y chromosome that is deficient in women. Unmarking of women can only be successful if the society changes the attitude towards gender