John Bitzan

North Dakota State University | NDSU · Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation & Growth

This study examines the cost implications of competition over existing US freight rail lines by testing for the condition of cost subadditivity. The study finds: (1) that there are economies associated with vertically integrated roadway maintenance and transport, suggesting that separating the two would result in increased resource costs; and (2) r...

This study compares cost and productivity changes of full-service carriers (FSCs), low-cost carriers (LCCs) and ‘other’ carriers classified as regional or charter firms. Findings show cost reductions of 10 percent for FSCs and 22 percent for regionals/charters, and cost increases of 8.5 percent for LCCs from 1993 to 2014. Nontrivial productivity ga...

Abstrac The aim of this study is to examine modal usage for shippers with limited transportation options to assess rail and truck quality of service. While service quality is an important consideration in shippers' mode choice decisions, freight studies often assume that shippers minimize total transportation costs subject to shipping rates. We tes...

This study estimates returns to density in the U.S. Railroad industry using a cost function with commodity-specific outputs and explores implications for differential pricing. We find that large density economies persist in the U.S. railroad industry, suggesting that marginal cost pricing would not come close to recovering railroad costs. Increased...

This study examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on house prices over time for the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo MSA of North Dakota and Minnesota. We examine overall trends by estimating an OLS hedonic model and dig deeper into the heterogeneity of price trends across the house price distribution using an unconditional quantile hedonic price m...

Entrepreneurs play a vital role in creating and sustaining the type of dynamic and competitive marketplace that supports consumer satisfaction and broader wellbeing. However, wellbeing may also play an important role in promoting a culture of entrepreneurship. In the current study (N = 1,269), we focus specifically on existential wellbeing and expl...

Following regulatory reform in the late 20th century, US rail carriers have consistently negotiated less rigid work rules which may create a business environment that enhances carriers’ ability to employ an allocatively efficient mix of inputs. This study explores the possibility of movement away from railroad input market distortion found in resea...

The cost structure of transit agencies that provide service to small urban and rural communities in the United States is estimated, the justification for government support of these agencies on the basis of natural monopoly evaluated, and the cost implications of combining transit agencies investigated. Increasing returns to density are found at al...

Increasing consolidation and concentration in the U.S. grain-elevator gathering system characterized by larger capacity elevators (shuttle) has altered shippers’ relative usage and demand for transportation services. In this study, we estimate modal demand for individual elevator wheat shipments from the U.S. Northern Plains to export and domestic...

Transportation Policy and Economic Regulation: Essays in Honor of Theodore Keeler addresses a number of today’s important transportation policy issues, exploring a variety of transportation modes, and examining the policy implications of a number of alternatives. Theodore Keeler had a distinguished career in transportation economics, helping to sha...

As the title of this book (Transportation Policy and Economic Regulation: Essays in Honor of Theodore Keeler) suggests, Theodore Keeler has had a tremendous impact on the field of transportation economics, in assessing the impacts and appropriateness of various policies and in helping to shape regulatory policies concerning the transportation indus...

This book volume examines the role that airports play in economic development and land values, the regulation and economic efficiency of airports, airport pricing and competition, and the role played by airports in influencing airline operations and networks. Airport operations serve as the origination and destination ports for air carriers. It is...

This study addresses the dearth of research that examines the impacts of alternative fuel use on operational costs of public transit in the U.S. Specifically, the study examines the impact on operational costs of shifting diesel gallons to biodiesel or to compressed natural gas (CNG) for an unbalanced panel of 269 public transit systems in the U.S....

An efficient air transport system is critical to countries attaining and sustaining healthy economies, especially given the increasingly interconnected world economy. Competing successfully requires the ability to quickly ship products over long distances at reasonable rates. Societies also prosper when people from different countries are able to t...

Past research on the allocation of factor inputs for the airline industry suggests an overutilization of labor relative to other inputs immediately following deregulation. This study argues rigid work rules in conjunction with productivity improvements of nonlabor inputs may create an incentive for carriers to under-invest in labor relative to nonl...

This chapter uses airline data on fares, traffic, and flight characteristics to estimate a series of fare equations for international flights. The results are used to examine the role of international competition as a determinant of fares along international flights originating or departing from the U.S. Findings suggest that actual and potential c...

There have now been over three decades of experience with rate-making freedom for all modes of intercity freight transport in the United States. Most evidence suggests that regulatory change has been beneficial for the rail industry and its users. Despite evidence of positive impacts of regulatory reform of U.S. freight transport, there is limited...

This study examines union wage premiums by occupation in the public sector in the U.S. for the 2000-2004 period. In examining union-nonunion wage differences for public sector workers in occupations accounting for 66 percent of all public workers in the 2000-2004 Current Population Survey, we find positive and statistically significant union premiu...

Conserving transport carbon emissions is an important policy goal. Conventional wisdom often holds that conservation is best achieved by increased regulation, and that such gains are best achieved in passenger auto transport (fuel efficiency standards or diversion to transit). We argue that the growth of rail freight has conserved carbon fuel use i...

This paper examines the effects of increased car weights, train size, and distance on railroad operational performance, which is measured in revenue ton-miles per train hour. A statistical model is estimated from Class I data that explains most of the variation in this index, while controlling for commodity and fixed network effects. The results su...

This study examines the role of sheepskin effects in explaining white–black earnings differences. The study finds significant differences in sheepskin effects between white men and black men, with white men receiving higher rewards for lower level signals (degrees of a college education or less) and black men receiving higher rewards for higher lev...

This study examines union wage premiums in the public sector for the 1998–2004 period. Unlike previous studies, our approach estimates union wage premiums considering differences in the rewards to education, experience, and other personal characteristics for union and non-union workers. The approach provides a larger estimated wage gap than the tra...

This study estimates a hedonic railroad cost function. It allows for differences in marginal costs across different outputs with different shipment characteristics. Cost and shipment data are included to examine the elasticity of costs with respect to two outputs - unit train output and way & through train output. We find differences across these t...

ABSTRACT Although transportation plays a role in economic development, it often is assumed to be an inert factor because of data voids or under assumptions. This research offers estimates of the relative quality of freight and business transport service resources available to non-metropoli tan cities across the United States. The U.S. economic geog...

Two reform acts, the Staggers Railroad Act of 1980 and the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, represented big changes in U.S. policy toward railroads. An important welfare gain from these changes predicted by researchers was the efficiency gain from increased densities in rail freight traffic. However, few retrospective stud...

Since partial deregulation in 1980, there has been a massive consolidation of firms in the U.S. railroad industry premised largely on efficiency gains. We estimate a cost function and use it to calculate cost effects for specific mergers and for all mergers at the industry level from 1983–2003. Our central results are that consolidation in the rail...

This study examines airfares for flights serving small and large communities, and attempts to explain their differences using a 10 per cent sample of all tickets sold nationwide in the year prior to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The study finds airfares that are 11 per cent higher for those serving communities of 300,000 or less in co...

The efficiency benefits of US rail industry deregulation have been widely documented. This research provides new insight regarding the accrual of benefits within the US grain industry. A study of rail grain rates from 1980 to 2000 finds railroads decreased rates for all grain shippers. The greatest gain in benefits was to producers in the most comp...

Using time series techniques, we contrast the impact of deregulation in trucking and rail labor markets. During regulation both labor markets were characterized by wages considerab y higher than manufacturing wages. In fact, trucking and rail wages had a stable, deterministic relationship prior to deregulation. After deregulation, however, the mean...

The efficiency benefits of U.S. rail industry deregulation are well documented in previous studies of rail productivity and declining rail rates. This research provides new insight regarding the accrual of these benefits within the grain industry. A disaggregate study of corn, wheat, and soybean rates across nine producing regions, shows that in re...

This study examines the earnings and characteristics of low to mid-level managers in the airline, trucking, and railroad industries and changes since deregulation. Moreover, the study examines the hypotheses that managerial quality has improved and that there is a stronger pay for performance relationship as a result of deregulation. The study find...

This study analyzes the effects of an important postderegulation innovation on rail freight productivity: the elimination of cabooses and related crew members. It also analyzes the overall growth of productivity in rail freight between 1983 and 1997 (using a translog rail cost function estimated over a sample of Class I railroads between 1983 and 1...

This paper presents a case study of North Dakota light-density rail lines to highlight the types of lines that are likely to be abandoned as a result of an industry switch to larger rail cars. The study models the decision process used by railroads in deciding whether to upgrade such lines or abandon them, estimates the costs of upgrading North Dak...

This study analyzes the effects of an important postderegulation innovation on rail freight productivity: the elimination of cabooses and related crew members. It also analyzes the overall growth of productivity in rail freight between 1983 and 1997 (using a translog rail cost function estimated over a sample of Class I railroads between 1983 and 1...

Future customer demands, service availability, and industry investment decisions will shape the modal marketing decisions of the grain-marketing sector. The Delphi technique is used to survey a cross section of grain-industry experts regarding future trends for the grain-marketing sector. The survey produces several interesting expectations, includ...

This study examines the cost conditions present in the Class I railroad industry. Recent mergers and merger proposals have brought forth questions regarding the desirability of maintaining competition in areas impacted by horizontal mergers and, similarly, the desirability of end-to-end mergers. As we consider the costs and benefits of various merg...

Railroad pricing behavior in shipping agricultural commodities from North Dakota to domestic and export destinations is examined by using an econometric technique with cross-sectional data from 1984 to 1989. North Dakota is a typical captive market where intermodal and intramodal competition is highly limited. However, intermodal and intramodal com...

This study examines the impacts of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA90) on coal production and coal flows. In many cases, the lowest cost method of reducing pollution will be to purchase low sulfur coal. Because 86 percent of the nation`s recoverable low sulfur coal reserves are located in the west, this presents opportunity for western co...

ABSTRACT This study examines the cost conditions present in the Class I railroad industry. Recent mergers and merger proposals have brought forth questions regarding the desirability of maintaining competition in areas impacted by horizontal mergers and, similarly, the desirability of end-to-end mergers. As we consider the costs and benefits of var...

Thesis (Ph. D. in Economics)--University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee, 1997. Includes bibliographical refereances (leaves 98-100). Vita. Photocopy (positive) University Microfilms No. 97-38677.