Abstract

This work studies the organization of less-than-truckload trucking from a contractual point of view. We show that the huge number of owner-operators working in the industry hides a much less fragmented reality. Most of those owner-operators are “quasi-integrated” in higher organizational structures. This hybrid form is generally more efficient than vertical integration because, in the Spanish institutional environment, it lessens serious moral hazard problems, related mainly to the use of the vehicles, and makes it possible to reach economies of scale and density. Empirical evidence suggests that what leads organizations to vertically integrate is not the presence of such economies but hold-up problems, related to the existence of specific assets. Finally, an international comparison hints that institutional constraints are able to explain differences in the evolution of vertical integration across countries. Document type: Preprint

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents an overview of the importance of planning of water supply during the development of a city. The size of a city is limited by the quantity of water that is available to it for residential, commercial, and industrial purposes. A survey in a city of a half-million persons revealed the consumption of about 90 gallons of water per family per day. All water is not alike. There is hard water, soft water, water with different amounts and varieties of mineral content, water that becomes polluted by local activities, and other water characteristics that present the problems that are not easy to solve. When plans are drawn up for the future of a city, the conditions under which water can be dispensed to the citizens must be considered. If reservoirs are to be built, rivers dammed back, or any other physical controls designed, space must be provided and this can easily affect the potential distribution of all manner of institutions including homes, manufacturing plants, recreation grounds, and public buildings.