TY  - JOUR
AU  - Baker,George P.
AU  - Hubbard,Thomas N.
TI  - Contractibility and Asset Ownership: On-Board Computers and Governance in U.S. Trucking
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7634
PY  - 2000
Y2  - April 2000
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7634
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7634.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
George Baker
Harvard Business School
Morgan Hall 440
Boston, MA 02163
Tel: 617/495-6119
Fax: 617/496-4191
E-Mail: gbaker@hbs.edu

Thomas Hubbard
615 Leverone Hall
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL  60208
Tel: 773/834-4074
Fax: 773/702-0458
E-Mail: t-hubbard@kellogg.northwestern.edu
AB  - We investigate how the contractibility of actions affecting the value of an asset affects asset ownership. We examine this by testing how on-board computer (OBC) adoption affects truck ownership. We develop and test the proposition that adoption should lead to less ownership by drivers, particularly for hauls where drivers have the greatest incentive to drive in non-optimal ways or engage in rent-seeking behavior. We find evidence in favor: OBC adoption leads to less driver ownership, especially for long hauls and hauls that use specialized trailers. We also find that non-owner drivers with OBCs drive better than those without them. These results suggest that technology-enabled increases in contractibility may lead to less independent contracting and larger firms.
ER  -