LABOR PRODUCTIVITY RETURNS TO THE PERSONNEL BUDGET FOR CLASS I RAILROADS UNDER DEREGULATION

The purpose of this paper is to assess the magnitude of the returns to investment in the personnel department, in terms of labor productivity, for 9 Class I railroads from 1983 to 1988. The period under study is one in which the railroads, due to the passage of the Stagger's Rail Act of 1980, were permitted unprecedented freedom in rate setting and in the deployment of their human and physical resources, which allowed them to maintain their transportation market share while achieving moderate increases in return on investment.