This paper examines the construction equipment resale market to assess whether equipment produced by the world's largest manufacturer of construction machinery, Caterpillar, experienced lower product quality in facilities that underwent contract disputes during the 1990's. Analysis of auction data reveals that resale market participants significantly discounted machines produced in these dispute-affected facilities. Additionally, pieces of equipment produced in facilities undergoing unrest were resold more often, received worse appraisal reports, and had lower list prices. Taken together, the evidence supports the hypothesis that workmanship at dispute-affected facilities declined, and that the resulting impact on the economic quality of the equipment produced was significant. The dispute was associated with at least $400 million in lost service flows due to inferior quality equipment alone.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
13138.
Length: Date of creation: May 2007 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13138
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts J5 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining
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