Sailors of the Concrete Sea: A Portrait of Truck Drivers' Work and Lives
| UW-L Author: |
Taggert J. Brooks, Ph.D.
Economics |
| Copyright: |
2005 |
| Publisher: |
Michigan State University Press |
Belman, Dale, Kristen A. Monaco, and Taggert J.
Brooks. Sailors of the Concrete Sea: A Portrait of Truck Drivers' Work and
Lives. East Lansing, Mich: Michigan State University Press, 2005.
Sailors of the Concrete Sea summarizes the data collected from
573 interviews with truck drivers conducted by the Sloan Foundation Trucking
Industry Program in 1997 and 1998. This data, unique in its depth and scope,
provides a finely textured picture of the work and work life of
over-the-road truck drivers in the
United States. Presented with supporting
data, the book provides information on widely ranging topics, including
drivers' hours of service regulations, and views of their jobs. The driver
survey is a unique source of data on drivers, both in the range of subjects
covered in the survey and in the reliability of the information. The survey
questionnaire instrument included more than 250 questions. While some of
these questions were designed to facilitate comparison between the Driver
Survey and national labor market surveys such as the Current Population
Survey, most were designed to explore the characteristics of truck drivers'
work. As such, they provide a rich portrait of drivers' work and lives.
About the Author
Dr. Brooks received a BA in economics from the
University
of Wisconsin–Madison in 1993; he
went on to get his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of
Wisconsin–Milwaukee
in 1999. His work has been published in several scholarly journals,
including his dissertation research which focused on measuring the
sensitivity of trade flows to changes in the exchange rate. He is currently
an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse
where his research interests cover a wide variety of topics, including the
business cycle, regional banking, and the economics of health. In the past
he has taught macro theory and money and banking; and this semester finds
him teaching health economics.
