Running out of steam: Federal inspection and locomotive safety, 1912-1940

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Smith College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050707000435
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 884-916
• 关键词: pure food; industry; railroad; origins; ENFORCEMENT; GOVERNMENT; campaign; rise; era; ACT

摘要

Locomotive inspection was among the most important Progressive Era federal workplace regulations. Inspection rules were enforced by a new Bureau of Locomotive Inspection, which claimed credit for subsequent safety improvements. Relying on published and unpublished data this article assesses these claims. Literary sources suggest that the bureau achieved compliance by emphasizing regulatory benefits and that its activities sharply reduced locomotive defects through the 1920s, in part by reducing agency problems. A model for 19231932 reinforces this conclusion, but suggests that the safety gains came at high cost. After 1932 safety improvements stagnated, for inspection ran out of steam.