The Structure of American Industry

Book excerpt: The major American industries—agriculture, petroleum, electricity, banking, telecommunications, movies, college sports, airlines, health care, and the beer, cigarette, and automotive industries—intersect our lives every day. Studying these industries raises a number of economic questions: How are the individual industries organized and structured? What is their history? What are the dominant organizations in each field, and what share of their market do they represent? What is the nature of competition in these fields, and how effectively does it govern economic decision making? The nature of these industries also raises a host of public policy challenges: What significant policy issues do they pose, what options are available for addressing them, and what role can and should the government play? Unlike other books that offer economic treatments focused on theoretical expositions and analyses, the thirteenth edition addresses all these questions in a manner that treats each industry in a comprehensive, holistic way. Brock’s approach focuses on everyday experience, enhancing readers’ understanding through examples that emphasize incident and detail. Each chapter, written by an expert in the field, has been updated or rewritten for this edition. A new chapter on the movie industry has been added as well. This outstanding overview of American industry offers the reader a live laboratory of clinical examination and comparative analysis.