[PEN-L:4816] Re: joint production, mergers, and specialization

[Eugene Coyle <eugenecoyle@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The classic on joint production is Clark's Studies in the Economics of
Overhead Costs.  Clark was writing in the 1920s but it is still good
stuff.  Even earlier was Dyonisious Lardner, with a study of the
Belgian railroad industry @ 1848.  That was the first study of joint
costs that I'm aware of.  Augustus M. Kelly republished it.
	My reading, so far, only goes up to the 1920s.  Seriously,
studies of joint production seem to be getting worse, not better, as
they are designed to serve special interests.  James Bonbright's book,
Public Utility Economics, early 1960s is excellent, but be sure to not
read what is called the second edition.  It is not the second edition
but a terrible travesty of Bonbright.  The two authors ripped off
Bonbright's sterling reputation (and book) and published a piece of
neo-classical trash under his title.  At that time Bonbright was in his
ninties and dying.  Warn people against the second edition. Or what is
called the second edition.  Gene Coyle