Divergent Paths, United States and France: Capital Markets, the State, and Differentiation in Transportation Systems, 1840–1940
研究了美国和法国在19至20世纪初同为私人铁路主导的资本主义经济体，为何二战后铁路发展截然不同，认为资本市场结构和国家干预的差异是关键原因。
Why do the United States and France, both capitalist economies that were dominated by private railways in the 19th and early 20 th centuries, have very different transport systems today? After World War II France developed 200 mph high speed trains, while railways in the United States declined to near irrelevance. This paper argues that cross-national divergence was caused by private and public actions that structured capitalmarkets and controlled planning. In the United States private financial institutions used capital markets to shape rail development. In France, by way of contrast, the state directly intervened in financial markets and controlled planning. Both systems thrived until World War I. But, then, faced with growing competition from cars, buses and trucks and burdened by excessive debt, they declined towards bankruptcy. The Great Depression became a defining moment as a Socialist-dominated government in France nationalized railways while in the United States, President Roosevelt's New Deal failed to enact policies to ensure the competitive viability of rail in relation to motorized transport. Rarely used archival sources provide much of the evidence for this argument.