Appalachian coal mining and market power : a case study / Jonathan Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Jonathan, 1950- author.

Series:

SAGE business cases.

SAGE business cases

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coal mines and mining.

Coal trade--History.

Coal trade.

Coal--Economic aspects--History.

Coal.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

London : SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals, 2023.

Summary:

This case study explores the poor working conditions of early-20th-century coal miners in Appalachia-more specifically in southern West Virginia-and how a substantial imbalance in market power allowed these conditions to develop. Market power, the ability to manipulate the terms of a transaction to extract benefit at the expense of other participating parties, can be concentrated on the side of the buyer or the seller. If it is the seller that has dominant market power, they can drive up the price of the commodity with little fear that the consumer will abandon the transaction in favor of a competitor. If it is the buyer who holds more market power, they can drive down the price knowing that the seller has no alternative sale options. In the case of the early-20th-century U.S. coal industry, owners had unfettered dominance in the sale of coal, but also in the purchasing of labor. This led to lucrative gains for the coal operators, but at the expense of other parties involved, introducing a system that was detrimental to the economy as a whole. In the labor market in particular, the lack of bargaining power for the workers led to horrific conditions in which laborers themselves worked and their families were trapped. The desperation that festered under these conditions was fueled by cruelty ranging from petty wage deductions to cold-blooded murder. Eventually, thousands of miners would take up arms and march on their employers in the largest uprising on U.S. soil outside the Civil War, culminating in a battle known as, despite a law passed by the West Virginia state government in 1931 in an effort that removed it from school history books for decades, the Battle for Blair Mountain. In the following case study, monopoly and monopsony are defined and their basic behavior is described. In some cases, inequitable balance of power can be beneficial to the economy as a whole, or at least largely ignored. However, students will find here one of many examples throughout history that showcases the range of atrocities that might be inflicted when market power is not kept in check. Students will be asked to consider the detrimental aspects of placing profit-seeking above human welfare, to contemplate the definition of a successful company beyond its costs and revenues, and to examine a government's role in fostering markets that benefit both buyers and sellers.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-5296-1906-8

9781529619065

OCLC:

1362530118