Note: / This thesis isolates four distinct patterns of production in the economic history of the Ahtna Athabascan Indians of the Upper Copper Valley, Alaska in the period from the 1700's to 1974: the aboriginal period of production for use and the periods dominated by mercantile capitalism; monopoly capitalism; and state capitalism. The period of mercantile capitalism involved the introduction of commodity fur production and the beginnings of a dependence upon commodities used as the means of subsistence production. The period of monopoly capitalism involved the introduction of wage labour and a fuller dependence upon commodities as the means of subsistence production. The period of state capitalism involved a fuller dependence upon wage labour and a direct dependence upon commodities. The common thread through the diverse periods of Ahtna history is the progressive rise and elaboration of a Native class society. The nature of the national economies, the type of commodity production introduced, and the role of commodities introduced are shown to be crucial in this development. / Cette thèse met en évidence quatre modes de production distincts dans l'histoire économique des indiens Ahtna Athabaskans de la haute "vallée du cuivre" en Alaska pour la période allant environs de 1700 jusqu'en 1974: l'époque aborigènes de production de denrées d'usage, puis les époques dominées respectivement par le capitalisme des grandes compagnies de négoce, le capitalisme des monopoles et le capitalisme d'état. L’époque des grandes compagnies de négoce correspond à l'introduction de la production de fourrures pour la vente et au début d’une dépendance aux marchandises utilisées comme moyens de production des denrées de subsistance. Celle du capitalisme des monopoles entraine l'apparition du travail salarie et le fait de dépendre d'une manière plus totale de l'achat d'ustensiles permettant de subvenir aux besoins. Enfin époque du capitalisme d’état correspond [...]

Note:

This paper presents two applications of empirical microeconomics based on choice theoretic optimization principles. The first topic explores the determinants of subsistence time allocation in a utility theoretic model of household production. The second topic examines firm pricing behavior in a deregulated, but concentrated industry setting. The first part of this applied microeconomic analysis estimates the subsistence time versus wage labor time allocations of Alaska's North Slope inhabitants using ordered probit based on a household production model. The explanatory variables measure labor supply, demographic, and cultural influences. The major findings are as follows. First parameter estimates differ statistically and substantially between Inupiat versus non-Inupiat residents, implying that optimal natural resource management decisions may vary with the ethnicity of the resource owners. Second, marital status, age, gender, and participation in generalized gift giving and receiving are important determinants of subsistence time allocations. Third, time spent in wage labor appears to be exogenous to the subsistence time allocation decision, indicating that the time allocation process is recursive. Fourth, we find an inverse relationship between wage labor time and subsistence participation. This means that reductions in wage employment opportunities lead to increased subsistence activity. For the North Slope, this implies that Prudhoe oil depletion will result in an increase in the use of subsistence natural resources. The second part of this study turns from the individual behavior to firm behavior. During the 1980's, researchers have noted a trend towards increased concentration in the general freight, less-than-truckload (LTL) portion of the U.S. motor carrier industry. The purpose of this study is to employ new empirical industrial organization (NEIO) techniques to determine whether the more concentrated post-1980, LTL motor carrier industry is exerting anti-competitive monopoly pricing behavior. The NEIO approach is used to formulate the relationship between market price and marginal cost in what is referred to as the representative firm's 'supply relation.' The firm's supply relation is estimated jointly with the cost function and the factor share equations under the assumption that cross equation disturbance terms are correlated (SUR). An instrumental variables procedure is used to test and control for correlation between output (on the right hand side) and the disturbance terms in the cost and supply equations. The results indicate that the trend toward increased industry concentration does not imply anti-competitive performance in the sense of rising price-cost margins. / Graduation date: 1994