Automation, transfer machinery, and mass production in the US automobile industry in the post-World War II era

2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Hounshell
2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-138
Author(s):  
David A. Hounshell

First experimented with in the 1920s and 1930s in the production of automobile engines, transfer machines became dominant in U.S. engine plants in the 1940s and 1950s, as automakers invested heavily in this equipment to meet pent-up demand following the war. Transfer machines thus became identified with “Detroit automation”. But with the advent of a “horsepower race”, firms found that transfer machines could not accommodate even minor changes in design. Late in the 1950s the industry developed and applied “building-block automation” to transfer machines to attain greater flexibility. Examining these developments contributes to our understanding of both specific industries and the general history of mass production and its alternatives.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 214
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Dreifus ◽  
Angelo DeCandia ◽  
Elliot Goldberg ◽  
Mohammed S. Chowdhury

The purpose of this study is to test the preferred habitat theory non-econometrically using interviews with the help of a questionnaire for self-guidance on a group of focused investors. Frequencies and simple percentages were used to analyze data. Though many generations of post-World War II economics and finance students were taught that the nature of the liabilities on the balance sheet and the desire to avoid mismatches against assets caused particular classes of investors to gravitate to a preferred habitat on the yield curve, our study based on the responses to questionnaires by a group of U.S. based bond traders and risk analysts shows that more than half of the respondents have no preference as to where on the curve they trade, whether the trade is on behalf of their customers or for the house, and that their arbitrage strategies are driven by opportunities for profit.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-599
Author(s):  
Cindy Whang

ABSTRACT On 13 August 2018, US President Donald Trump signed a legislation called the ‘Export Controls Act of 2018’ (ECA) that is important for reinvigorating the export control regime in the USA. This paper argues that contents of the ECA will not only impact the USA but also the way that the ECA is structured will potentially have a long-lasting influence on international export control regimes and the role that export controls play in international trade. International export control regimes were established post-World War II as a trade measure to pursue common strategic and national security goals among allied countries. Due to the sensitive nature of national security issues, international export control agreements were structured as non-binding agreements that heavily relied on the consensus of participating countries in formulating export control lists that the participating countries could then adopt in their domestic regulations. The cohesiveness of the global export control regimes has been based on the cornerstones of the consensus-building and list-based standards. The USA established its export control regimes to complement these international export control regimes and has been a strong proponent of requesting countries to adopt the international export control lists into domestic regulations. With the passage of the ECA, the infusion of economic policy considerations such as maintaining the USA’s technological leadership through adding a category of emerging and foundational technology has changed the long-standing export control narrative. Through the changes made to the US ECA, the scope of national security subject to export control regimes has expanded from being focused on military-oriented goods and technology into one that now includes commercial technology. While the changes made through the ECA serve to protect the USA’s technological interests, the statute could also undermine important elements of the global export control regime that the international community has established in the past seventy years post-World War II.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Docquier ◽  
Riccardo Turati ◽  
Jérôme Valette ◽  
Chrysovalantis Vasilakis

Author(s):  
Dr. Muhammad Tariq ◽  
Amjad Ali Khan ◽  
Ejaz Khan

The US has played a significant role in the world particularly during the post-world War–II period. The changing role has been ascribed by some to the Trump administration while by others it has been attributed to the Obama administration. Democratic Peace Theory provides the basic theoretical framework for the study while four key factors of the US role have been elucidated. The focus of this paper is to investigate the role played by the US in the post-World War-II era to date coupled with the changing behavior of the US from time to time during different regimes. The main objectives of the paper include global leadership, defense, and promotion of liberal international order, freedom, democracy, and prevention of the emergence of hegemonic power. It is an important fact that the US has played the role of world hegemony, particularly in the post-World War-II era.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-77
Author(s):  
Mahdi Teimouri

Viet ThanhNguyen’s The Sympathizer(2015) is an intriguing novel for anyone familiar with the early fiction of J.M. Coetzee. Nguyen’s debut novel has as its theme the war in Vietnam, which is not surprising given his background and his scholarly work preceding its publication. Interestingly, Coetzee’s first novel, Dusklands(1974) comprised two novellas, the first of which,called “The Vietnam Project”, is also related to the US invasion of Vietnam. Both works offer critical insights into US war-mongering in the post-World War II era. Additionally, Coetzee’s third novel, Waiting for the Barbarians(1980), bears thematic resemblances with both his and Nguyen’s debut novels, as they, in one way or another, are concerned with imperialism’s modus operandi and its continuation through the subjugation, intimidation,and annihilation of collective subjects. The main aim of this paper is to investigate the parallels and overlaps that can be detected among these three novelsthat are germane to the stratagems adopted by an imperialist power to sustain its dominion, legitimize its presence,andjustify brutality. These stratagems mediate the way the imperial force relatesto or conceivesof the other. Of the concepts employed in this article,the following areof particular significance: representation, grievability, and framing.


2019 ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
Andrew Marble

Set in Pappenheim, Germany, in 1947, the chapter continues the theme of nature vs. nurture by introducing John Shalikashvili’s great aunt, Countess Julie Pappenheim. As European aristocracy, the countess symbolizes the rights and responsibilities of power and nobility (noblesse oblige) as well as the question of identity and commitment—all key themes for an officer, particularly one of foreign birth, rising through the US armed forces. It also touches upon John Shalikashvili’s troubled youth, outlines the continued struggles faced by the family as war refugees in post-World War II Germany, and introduces Dimitri Shalikashvili, John Shalikashvili’s father.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Jenness

This paper explores the way American intellectuals depicted Sigmund Freud during the peak of popularity and prestige of psychoanalysis in the US, roughly the decade and a half following World War II. These intellectuals insisted upon the unassailability of Freud's mind and personality. He was depicted as unsusceptible to any external force or influence, a trait which was thought to account for Freud's admirable comportment as a scientist, colleague and human being. This post-war image of Freud was shaped in part by the Cold War anxiety that modern individuality was imperilled by totalitarian forces, which could only be resisted by the most rugged of selves. It was also shaped by the unique situation of the intellectuals themselves, who were eager to position themselves, like the Freud they imagined, as steadfastly independent and critical thinkers who would, through the very clarity of their thought, lead America to a more robust democracy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-41
Author(s):  
Maftuna Sanoqulova ◽  

This article consists of the politics which connected with oil in Saudi Arabia after the World war II , the relations of economical cooperations on this matter and the place of oil in the history of world economics


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