IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v63y2010i1p107-136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fixed‐price contracts, learning, and outsourcing: explaining the continuous growth of output and labour productivity in the German aircraft industry during the Second World War1

Author

Listed:
  • LUTZ BUDRASS
  • JONAS SCHERNER
  • JOCHEN STREB

Abstract

In this article it is claimed that, at least in the aircraft industry, the development of German armament production and productivity was much more continuous than Wagenführ's armament index and both the Blitzkrieg thesis and the inefficiency thesis suggest. In order to prove this new thesis of continuity, we show on the basis of firm‐level data, firstly, that investment in production capacities had already started before the war and was especially high in the early phase of the war, and secondly, that the regulatory setting of aircraft production management was rather constant and was not dramatically changed after 1941. In addition, we demonstrate that the driving forces of productivity growth were primarily learning‐by‐doing and outsourcing, the latter being generally neglected by economic historians.

Suggested Citation

  • Lutz Budrass & Jonas Scherner & Jochen Streb, 2010. "Fixed‐price contracts, learning, and outsourcing: explaining the continuous growth of output and labour productivity in the German aircraft industry during the Second World War1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(1), pages 107-136, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:63:y:2010:i:1:p:107-136
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00471.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00471.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00471.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, December.
    2. Buchheim, Christoph & Scherner, Jonas, 2006. "The Role of Private Property in the Nazi Economy: The Case of Industry," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 390-416, June.
    3. Jochen Streb, 2009. "Negotiating contract types and contract clauses in the German construction industry during the Third Reich," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(2), pages 364-379, June.
    4. Streb Jochen, 2003. "Das Scheitern der staatlichen Preisregulierung in der nationalsozialistischen Bauwirtschaft'," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 44(1), pages 27-48, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tetsuji Okazaki, 2022. "Controlling Funds Allocation for the War: The Experience of Japan in the Late 1930s," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1191, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    2. Tetsuji OKAZAKI, 2022. "Designing wartime economic controls: Productivity and firm dynamics in the Japanese cotton spinning industry, 1937–1939," CIGS Working Paper Series 22-002E, The Canon Institute for Global Studies.
    3. Cristiano Andrea Ristuccia & Adam Tooze, 2013. "Machine tools and mass production in the armaments boom: Germany and the United States, 1929–44," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(4), pages 953-974, November.
    4. Tetsuji OKAZAKI, 2022. "Controlling Funds Allocation for the War: The Experience of Japan in the Late 1930s," CIGS Working Paper Series 22-005E, The Canon Institute for Global Studies.
    5. Tetsuji Okazaki, 2022. "``Designing Wartime Economic Controls: Productivity and Firm Dynamics in the Japanese Cotton Spinning Industry, 1937-1939''," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1187, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jochen Streb, 2009. "Negotiating contract types and contract clauses in the German construction industry during the Third Reich," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(2), pages 364-379, June.
    2. Francesca Barigozzi & Bertrand Villeneuve, 2006. "The Signaling Effect of Tax Policy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 8(4), pages 611-630, October.
    3. christoph Engel, 2005. "Voice over IP. Competition Policy and Regulation," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2005_26, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    4. Klein, Michael, 1996. "Competition in network industries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1591, The World Bank.
    5. Rodrigo M. S. Moita & Claudio Paiva, 2013. "Political Price Cycles in Regulated Industries: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 94-121, February.
    6. Afsharian, Mohsen & Ahn, Heinz & Lopes, Ana & Vilela, Bruno, 2019. "Pitfalls in estimating the X-factor: The case of energy transmission regulation in Brazil," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1-9.
    7. MARINI, Marco, 1996. "Property Rights and Market : Employee Privatization as a Cooperative Bargaining Process," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 1996023, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    8. Michael A. Arnold & Joshua M. Duke & Kent D. Messer, 2013. "Adverse Selection in Reverse Auctions for Ecosystem Services," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(3), pages 387-412.
    9. Jacopo Bizzotto & Alessandro De Chiara, 2022. "Frequent audits and honest audits," Working Papers 202202, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo Business School.
    10. Susan J. Guthrie & Hines, James R. Jr., 2011. "U.S. DEFENSE CONTRACTS DURING the TAX EXPENDITURE BATTLES of the 1980s," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 64(2), pages 731-751, June.
    11. Petter Osmundsen, 1999. "Taxing Internationally Mobile Individuals—A Case of Countervailing Incentives," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 6(2), pages 149-164, May.
    12. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "Firm Growth, Institutions and Structural Transformation," Ratio Working Papers 150, The Ratio Institute.
    13. Sang‐Ho Lee & Hae‐Shin Hwang, 2003. "Partial Ownership For The Public Firm And Competition," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 54(3), pages 324-335, September.
    14. Schmitz, Patrick W., 2007. "Optimal selling strategies when buyers may have hard information," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 859-870, May.
    15. Simon P. Anderson & Régis Renault, 2011. "Price Discrimination," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 22, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Keppler, Jan Horst & Quemin, Simon & Saguan, Marcelo, 2022. "Why the sustainable provision of low-carbon electricity needs hybrid markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    17. Leslie Bravo Chew & Luis Fernando Gamboa, 2006. "Subsidios cruzados: el caso del sector postal," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 8(15), pages 251-268, July-Dece.
    18. Polinsky, A. Mitchell & Shavell, Steven, 2007. "The Theory of Public Enforcement of Law," Handbook of Law and Economics, in: A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell (ed.), Handbook of Law and Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 403-454, Elsevier.
    19. Dionne, G. & Doherty, N., 1991. "Adverse Selection In Insurance Markets: A Selective Survey," Cahiers de recherche 9105, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    20. Gilles Saint-Paul, 2004. "Why are European Countries Diverging in their Unemployment Experience?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 49-68, Fall.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:63:y:2010:i:1:p:107-136. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.