Sugden, Roger (1984) The degree of monopoly and transnational corporations : some theoretical and empirical issues. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The thesis presents four papers that begin to
analyse transnational monopoly capitalism:
(1) Paper One attempts to fill a gap in the literature
by examining the impact of intra-firm imports (and exports)
on the theoretical specification of the degree of monopoly.
It shows that an industry's degree of monopoly need not
fall when import penetration-rises. United Kingdom car
industry data is used to examine the bias in estimating
the degree of monopoly when ignoring intra-firm imports.
(2) Paper Two explores the conjectural variation model
underlying such a theoretical specification. In particular,
it criticises the model for saying little about the determinants
of industry equilibrium. It suggests collusion
amongst firms focusing on the possibility of joint profit
maximisation be given the centre stage, and that equilibrium
be analysed in terms of its deviation from the joint
maximum, the deviation depending upon firms' retaliatory
power, cost functions, and demand functions.
(3) Paper Three considers another question arising in (1):
why are there transnational corporations? It pursues a
Marglinian analysis. A general theoretical framework based
upon product market domination is developed, and one aspect
of this - labour market domination - is taken up in
theoretical and empirical detail. Particular emphasis is
given to distributional as against efficiency considerations.
Throughout, the analysis is compared to other approaches -
for instance, internalisation.
(4) Paper Four pursues the theory of the firm by taking up
the fundamental issue of who controls firms. In contrast
to existing literature, it criticises ex post analysis of'
share distributions, and uses a dynamic, historical framework
in concluding that owners control firms. This is
supported by examining recently reported empirical
evidence. Consideration of the M-form organisation, and
savings behaviour is used to further discriminate the
analysis from managerialism and neoclassicism respectively.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	International business enterprises, Monopolies, Capitalism, Intra-firm trade
Official Date:	October 1984
Dates:	Date Event October 1984 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Economics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Cowling, Keith ; Ireland, Norman J.
Extent:	188 leaves
Language:	eng

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