Peer-reviewed
The Rise of Big Business in the World Copper Industry 1870-1930
Despite a pronounced trend towards business concentration in the copper industry since the 1870s, there is limited evidence that these large-scale firms have had any sustained success in controlling a market which displays a long-term trend of increasing price instability. Big business in this industry seems best explained as a response to the necessary move to mining very large scale, low grade ore deposits, with consequent higher capital costs. The instability of metal markets also impelled firms to minimize transactions cost through a process of vertical integration
Article, 1986
The Economic History Review, 39, 19860801, 392
1986