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Shattered rails, ruined credit: Fin...

Schiffman, Daniel Aubrey.

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Shattered rails, ruined credit: Financial fragility and railroad operations in the Great Depression.

Record Type:	Electronic resources : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Shattered rails, ruined credit: Financial fragility and railroad operations in the Great Depression./
Author:	Schiffman, Daniel Aubrey.
Description:	148 p.
Notes:	Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 61-09, Section: A, page: 3680.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International61-09A.
Subject:	Economics. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=9985952
ISBN:	9780599925489

Shattered rails, ruined credit: Financial fragility and railroad operations in the Great Depression.
Schiffman, Daniel Aubrey.

Shattered rails, ruined credit: Financial fragility and railroad operations in the Great Depression. - 148 p.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 61-09, Section: A, page: 3680.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 2000.

The theory of "financial fragility" emphasizes the role of weak balance sheets in propagating and magnifying macroeconomic shocks. The theory has important cross-sectional implications, yet few researchers have tested its predictions for the period of the Great Depression.

ISBN: 9780599925489Subjects--Topical Terms:

517137
Economics.

Shattered rails, ruined credit: Financial fragility and railroad operations in the Great Depression.
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100 1 $a Schiffman, Daniel Aubrey. $3 3178725
245 1 0 $a Shattered rails, ruined credit: Financial fragility and railroad operations in the Great Depression.
300 $a 148 p.
500 $a Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 61-09, Section: A, page: 3680.
500 $a Adviser: Charles Calomiris.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 2000.
520 $a The theory of "financial fragility" emphasizes the role of weak balance sheets in propagating and magnifying macroeconomic shocks. The theory has important cross-sectional implications, yet few researchers have tested its predictions for the period of the Great Depression.
520 $a I use a new panel dataset to investigate the relationship between financial fragility and real activity on U.S. railroads during 1929--1940. First, I discuss the historical origins of railroad financial fragility, in light of modern corporate finance theory. Then, I formulate a flexible accelerator model of maintenance expenditures and employment. Using the model as a benchmark, I ask whether a firm's degree of leverage, bankruptcy status, and size affect the responses of employment and maintenance expenditures to changes in operating revenues.
520 $a My results provide strong support for the predictions of the financial fragility theory. Leverage and bankruptcy status had the greatest effect during the worst years of the Depression and their impact differed systematically by firm size. Firm leverage had a large negative effect and generally affected small firms only. That is, firms whose fixed interest burdens were heavier than average exhibited lower than average annual growth in maintenance and employment; in general, this was true of small firms only. Bankruptcy effects were large and positive, and were present in large firms only. In other words, large firms that were in bankruptcy exhibited higher annual growth in maintenance and employment. Various categories of maintenance expenditure were not equally sensitive to financial effects; I find that highly indebted firms mainly used track maintenance to absorb revenue shocks.
520 $a Public policy implications are discussed. The U.S. Government attempted to keep the railroads out of bankruptcy through loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. I conclude that this policy was counterproductive.
520 $a It can be argued that the flexible accelerator model is not the theoretically preferred way to model maintenance decisions. Therefore, I formulate a complete dynamic optimizing model of the railroad firm. This is used to derive loglinear expressions for the change in maintenance and the change in utilization. A simplified version of the model is estimated.
590 $a School code: 0054.
650 4 $a Economics. $3 517137
650 4 $a Economic history. $2 fast $3 548503
650 4 $a Finance. $3 542899
650 4 $a Transportation. $3 555912
650 4 $a American history. $3 2122692
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710 2 $a Columbia University. $3 571054
773 0 $t Dissertation Abstracts International $g 61-09A.
790 $a 0054
791 $a Ph.D.
792 $a 2000
793 $a English
856 4 0 $u http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=9985952