Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    A tale of two cities: Cyclical movements in price and productivity in mining and manufacturing

    20534_downloaded_stream_522.pdf (159.3Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Bloch, Harry
    Date
    2008
    Type
    Working Paper
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Bloch, Harry (2008) A tale of two cities: Cyclical movements in price and productivity in mining and manufacturing, Centre for Research in Applied Economics Working Paper Series: no. 200808, Curtin University of Technology, School of Economics and Finance.
    Faculty
    Curtin Business School
    School of Economics and Finance
    Remarks

    ISSN 1834-9536

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2779
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Data from the mining and manufacturing sectors of the Australian and Canadian economies are used to illustrate the divergent cyclical behaviour of prices and productivity. Productivity in manufacturing is observed to move in the same direction as demand shocks. The opposite is found in mining. Why?This paper provides an explanation of the observed difference in the behaviour of prices and productivity in the mining and manufacturing sectors of industrialized economies. The explanation focuses on a dichotomy of competitive conditions. Manufacturing characterized by equilibrium with sunk costs and reasonably free entry, while mining is characterized by heterogeneity of resource deposits that impedes establishment of an equivalent equilibrium.The long-run equilibrium in manufacturing is associated with firms operating on the declining portion of the long-run cost curves, so demand shocks lead to cost changes in the opposite direction. Heterogeneity in mining operations is associated with fringe firms that act as price-takers and operate along the rising part of their marginal cost curves, which implies a positive impact of demand shocks on marginal cost, and on average cost when the firms are profitable with price exceeding minimum average cost. As average cost is inversely related to average productivity, demand shocks are expected to have a generally positive impact on productivity in manufacturing but a generally negative impact on productivity in mining.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Evaluation of monorail haulage systems in metalliferous underground mining
      Besa, Bunda (2010)
      The decline is a major excavation in metalliferous mining since it provides the main means of access to the underground and serves as a haulage route for underground trucks. However, conventional mining of the decline to ...
    • Price optimization of multi-stage remanufacturing in a closed loop supply chain
      Bhattacharya, R.; Kaur, Arshinder; Amit, R. (2018)
      In a remanufacturing process within the closed loop supply chain (CLSC) the manufacturers collect the end of life or used products from the customers and repair/refurbish them to sell it along with newly manufactured ...
    • Joint pricing and production planning of multiple products
      Mardaneh, Elham (2010)
      Many industries are beginning to use innovative pricing techniques to improve inventory control, capacity utilisation, and ultimately the profit of the firm. In manufacturing, the coordination of pricing and production ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.