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谢谢！我也找了Apple那篇的，但不确定是不是 麻烦考过的TX帮我们确认下 哈 同时也动员大家都一块找找 分工合作哈
Contract Evolution and Institutional Innovation:
The American Fresh Fruit Industry from 1890 to 1930
Carolyn Dimitri, University of Maryland, College Park
NOTE: The summary which appeared in the October 1997 issue of The Newsletter of The Cliometric Society contained graphics which cannot be accurately reproduced in this version.
The system of producing and marketing fresh fruits experienced a major transformation between 1890 and 1930. For the first part of this time period, only local markets existed, with fresh fruits sold by producers directly to consumers. By 1930, however, fruit was grown in regions far from final consumers, with middlemen purchasing from farmers and selling to retailers. Two innovations, rail transportation and refrigeration, provided the infrastructure needed to shift fruit distribution from a local to a national scale. Rail transportation gave farmers access to nearby markets, but efforts at transporting fruits to distant markets failed since the crops generally rotted before delivery. The subsequent development of refrigeration preserved fruit quality during the long trip from Western orchards, for example, to consumers in large Midwest and Eastern cities.
Following these innovations, regional specialization of fruit production began to dominate the industry. It was during this time that the Pacific region, for example, began growing more deciduous fruit than any other region in the nation. In addition, it was during this period that the beginning of what is currently a government-administered, industry-financed inspection service was legislated by Congress. This paper examines the historical evidence in the context of agency theory, providing support for the idea that, in the spirit of North, technological change, institutional innovation, and economic growth were closely related in the American fresh fruit industry.
The transition from local, independent markets to a national industry was rocky, with frequent disputes between sellers and buyers. One source of conflict stemmed from the changing contractual relationship between the two groups. Local traders were accustomed to meeting the same partners over time, and so relied on reputation and repeat business to enforce contracts. In the national market, however, a large number of buyers and sellers were separated by long distances.1 In this new, impersonal market, there was no mechanism to convey information about past actions, and so it was impossible for traders to develop reputations for ethical business practices and high quality fruit.2 Without reputation or repeat business to bond buyers and sellers, both parties found reneging on contract terms profitable. Thus, the old methods of contract enforcement that worked when trade was confined to small regions were no longer able to enforce the new long-distance contracts.
Low fruit quality, real or reported, was a central theme in the conflicts between buyers and sellers. Low quality in the receiving market was caused by a combination of factors - the quality of produce the farmer shipped plus the effect of shipping over long distances by the railroad. Ignorance led some growers to ship low quality produce, not realizing that higher profits could be earned by selling only top quality fruit. Other growers deliberately misrepresented fruit by labeling low quality fruit as high quality. For example, apple growers would "face" barrels with high quality apples and fill the interior with lower quality apples unsuitable for eating. |
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发表于 2009-11-24 11:50:16
ossibility of Life Sustaining Planets in Interstellar Space."
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