The Economic Thought of Friedrich List by Harald Hagemann Stephan Seiter Eugen Wendler & Seiter Stephan & Wendler Eugen

Author:Harald Hagemann,Stephan Seiter,Eugen Wendler & Seiter , Stephan & Wendler, Eugen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

9.4. Hansemann on railway regulation4

In a treatise written in 1837 entitled “The Railways and their Shareholders in their Relation to the State” (henceforth cited as “Railways”) Hansemann investigated whether it was preferable for a country to have a public or a private railway system (Hansemann, 1837).5 As mentioned already, this question was one of the most hotly debated issues of railway policy at that time in Germany.

Hansemann gives a surprisingly modern and differentiated answer to this question. Already at a time when the first railroads in Germany had scarcely begun to exist he draws the sharp distinction between the network level of railroading and the operational level which is at the centre of modern regulatory discussions today. The network level comprises the planning, building and maintaining the network. The operational level comprises the movement of trains over a given network. When Hansemann speaks of “the railways” he usually refers to “ways” in the literal sense, i.e. the network level. In Section 3 of “Railways” where he advances arguments for state-ownership of railways he always refers to the network level. § 54 of Chapter 10, for instance, states:

But don’t let me be misunderstood. It is not my intention at all that the state should engage in the operation on the railroads. This type of business is not unlike running a big factory where managerial and technical knowledge and special monitoring are necessary requirements. In order to be economically viable a business of this type must be supported by private interests in a major way and its management must have a degree of freedom and latitude which never can be given to a public administration.

(“Railways” Chapter 10, § 54 italics added)

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